Baby Driver Review

THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED (Will Be Rated R for Strong Graphic Violence and Language)

TriStar Pictures, Media Rights Capital, Big Talk Productions, Working Title Films

1 Hr and 53 Minutes

Cast: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx

REVIEW: It all started with a song. Back in the day before he made the Cornetto Trilogy, Edgar Wright wrote a script that would be Baby Driver. In 2003, he directed this music video for Mint Royale's "Blue Song," with the intention of having this be the beginning of his movie that was going to be Baby Driver:

The film has a nice little easter egg where you see a quick frame of the music video onscreen. 

A talented, young getaway driver Baby (Ansel Elgort) relies on the beat of his personal soundtrack to be the best in the game. When he meets the girl of his dreams (Lily James), Baby sees a chance to ditch his criminal life and make a clean getaway. But after being coerced into working for a crime boss (Kevin Spacey), he must face the music when a doomed heist threatens his life, love and freedom.

THE GOOD: The movie has the unique Edgar Wright style you expect from a car to a person’s silhouette transitioning from one scene to another to a person talking on the phone as the film’s score blares over the conversation then stop right when the person hangs up. It has all that unique comic book feel that was influenced from Scott Pilgrim.

From the opening of the film, Wright establishes that Baby is the best driver in the getaway driving business and honestly he is. Baby is such a badass driver its like he got his skills from Dominic Toretto and Driver (you know from). I would say the film’s opening is a subtle callback to the music video Wright directed, but then again, he did intend that entire music video to be the opening of the movie; He still beats himself up till this day that he did it. But nobody does quick cuts like Edgar Wright especially when someone is driving a car. All of the driving sequences of this film are exhilarating and fun; They're all crafted with such skilled precision. 

Edgar Wright is still one of the best screenwriters in the business in Hollywood working today. The movie runs on two things; it’s humor and its music. Even the action sequences move on both rhythm and beats. It’s pretty badass all the way through. I’ve never seen a gunfight symphony in film before, and I’m pretty amazed at the execution of it.

Not only does this movie runs on Wright’s natural (and now iconic) style, but it also moves on rhythm. The music doesn’t only play as a mean to sell a soundtrack, but it plays as an intricate part of the story and the character development for Baby. Besides Baby being a lover of classic music from the late 20th century, he also makes tape remixes of sound he hears that day. I feel that the music featured in the film is the music that impacted Wright's life, while the music Baby makes is just Ansel Elgort releasing his inner DJ. Have you listened to Ansel Elgort’s music? That boy has talent. I’m pretty sure the music he makes in the film is Ansel Elgort just doing himself. 

The person who makes a surprising turn in his performance is Jon Hamm. Without giving too much away, he pulls an incredible performance that we need to see more of in his filmography. From the recent movies he appears in, this role is the perfect vehicle for Hamm. We understand that he wants to get into comedic acting, but he's far much better in dramatic roles. He doesn't go full out Don Draper, but stuff like this is much better than him being in comedies.

This movie is as if Edgar Wright watched Horrible Bosses, Tower Heist, and one Fast & Furious movie and said, “I can do something like this.” I mean he took Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx from the Horrible Bosses films and put him in this movie. Jamie Foxx is pretty much an incarnation of Muthafucka Jones but just twice as obnoxious. He’s just angry all the time. He always wears red like he’s supposed to symbolize the devil. Though it is never said, you can catch early on that Baby abides by a code. Death isn’t in Baby’s code, and when Jamie Foxx’s Bats constantly breaks that code by killing innocent bystanders, that system breaks which makes Baby lose his rhythm and you can see where the moral conflict lies within. As much as I dislike Bat’s character, Foxx easily does an excellent job channeling his craziness. Honestly, where was that performance in Django Unchained?

THE BAD: The story is pretty standard for your typical heist movie, but it does have subtle and satirical humor now and then, but the film, unfortunately, follows the trapping of a mainstream film. A lot off these characters are one note and one dimensional.

Jon Bernthal will always be Jon Bernthal. I’m tired of this guy playing the same character as Shane and Frank Castle. The only time Jon Bernthal wasn’t himself was Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl. Oh, aaaaaaand he’s gone. He doesn’t die or anything, he just disappears. The man is in this movie for five minutes until he got the news that The Punisher was greenlit for a solo series. It feels like he's going to be the film's intended villain, but after his departure, Foxx just gets pulled in.

With previous Edgar Wright movies, you didn’t know where the movie was going to go. In this, you have an idea where the story is going to go. The movie for the first two acts is entertaining as it can be as it hits a lot of typical story elements with the aim of its type, but when the film reaches its third act Edgar Wright unleashes his most powerful specialty his element of surprise. The third act does surprising twists and turns that is unexpected and turns into a whole separate film that ups the ante with intense action sequences and amazing character twists. Though it writes itself into a corner with its generic conclusion that you seen in every film of its type, the entire third act differentiates itself from other crime films that make up for 1/3 of the movie’s flaws. 

LAST STATEMENT: Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver may be too mainstream for its own good, but it’s an infectiously joyous wild ride that is a testament to the saying, “Let the music play.”

Rating: 4/5 | 81%

Super Scene: Jon goes Hamm.