True Review Movie - Baby Driver
by Denver Fernandes June 30 2017, 6:25 pm Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins, 7 secsCast: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx
Direction: Edgar Wright
Producer: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Nira Park
Writer: Edgar Wright
Genre: Romantic/ Comedy
Duration:113 Mins
Baby Driver is written and Directed by the infamous ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ mastermind, Edgar Wright. This is a clear indication that no other director can direct like him. This movie is a perfect mix of music cues, action and visual comedy. Quitting Ant Man and making this littler film seems to have been a good decision after all. When the scenes start to play out, electricity courses through your veins as the music makes your head bob in delight. This is the story of a getaway driver who needs- in the words of a snarky character, “a score for a score”.
Ansel Elgort plays Baby, a getaway driver suffering from tinnitus, which was caused by a car accident that took the lives of his parents when he was little. The accident left him with a “hum in the drum”. In other words, he has to play music to drown out the aching sound in his ears. Baby is probably the best getaway driver out there (kind of like Ryan Gosling in Drive), but like all career criminals, he wants out of the game. He stores tons of music on his Ipod and plays it during heists and relatively all day. Baby falls for a waitress named Debora played by Lily James and decides to finally take his foot off the gas. Kevin Spacey plays a menacing articulate kingpin of sorts (kind of like in House of Cards), and he needs Baby to do one more heist before they can part ways.
The movie starts off with a great heist and chase, and many more follow. All the chase sequences are so great; it would give Fast and Furious a run (or drive) for its money. Over the course of this movie we are introduced to characters with the most outrageous code names, like Bats, Buddy, Darling, and Griff. All the characters elevate the movie to new heights and the editing is just spot on, as expected from Edgar Wright. The character Doc is played by Kevin Spacey and he’s yet another scheming old man just like the one from his TV endeavors. Ansel Elgort fits into this role with perfection, he is calm and barely talks but is always listening and drives like he has the cheat codes to GTA San Andreas. Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx play bank robbers and both add depth to this symphonic tale. The most stunning thing this movie has to offer is, wait for it, originality. Perfectly synced action to music makes you feel like your watching a high-octane music video, at least during the chase and action sequences. When your not getting blown away by the relentless fast pace sound, you get mellow classics for the more toned down romantic moments between the main characters. It’s not all car chases and shooting, no, it gets calm and heartfelt at times. This mellow portion of the movie is probably its lower points. These moments only make you wish that the melodic action came quicker.
The movie is all you would come to expect from an Edgar Wright movie and then some. The writing, editing and direction keep you on the edge of your seat for almost the entire movie. The mystery of the primary antagonist is not known till the last act, which is a breath of fresh air from recent mundane twists. The action is worth the wait and when it arrives, it shoots nitrous into your veins making this a movie to remember.