Baby Driver Speeds Into Cinematic Greatness
- Jul 6, 2017
- 2 min read
Edgar Wright, a man best known for his work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in the Cornetto Trilogy, returns to the big screen with Baby Driver, a by the numbers crime story that oozes style, charm and class like nothing else.
Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a getaway driver. He's not just good, he's the best. Under the ever watchful eye of Doc (Kevin Spacey) he ferries various lowlifes to and from various lucrative, and illegal, endeavours. He's a criminal but he's not a bad guy, simply working off a debt he owes to Doc after many years. When all is said and done, when Baby and Doc are square, he tries to settle down, have a normal life, and pursue the waiter at his favourite diner. But, as fate, and cliche, would have it, Doc needs him one more time. One last job, one that is destined to fail.
Baby Driver may not have the most interesting plot, it isn't imaginative, it isn't original and it's certainly contrived but the story isn't what makes the movie any good. The characters, namely those played by Spacey, Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm, as well as the incredible soundtrack, are what make Baby Driver a joy to watch. The afore mentioned stars have a screen presence which draws the viewer to them, every action and word is fully committed, there is hardly a moment wasted in their excellence. And while this is great, it's also something of a negative as they push aside Ansel who plays a more reserved and quiet part. Be this by direction or simply by happenstance, it is certainly felt.
Sure, the acting is great, often terrifyingly so, the score is the real star. The film is more like a feature length music video then anything else as Baby listens to various tunes to drown out the ringing of his tinnitus. And every sequence is in time to this music. Gears are shifted, shots are fired, sirens sound off and bodies hit the ground, all running along with the beat. One shootout in particular drops the music as gunfire takes, the shots replacing the notes. It's instantly noticeable and very entertaining to watch.
Baby Driver is not a film you watch for the plot. It is however, one that is worth watching. The score, the characters, the writing, the direction, everything is so well done that it's thoroughly entertaining. There's so much style that I wouldn't be surprised if it gets its imitators in the coming years and it's definitely worth checking out at the cinema, if for nothing more than to get the full effect of the symphony of action. Fast And Furious should be taking notes.
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