Baby Driver is a total joy ride fueled by a killer soundtrack [MOVIE REVIEW]
Photo credit: Jamie Foxx and Ansel Elgort in ‘Baby Driver.’ Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment
by Ryan Rojas for www.cinemacy.com
If you’re looking for some excitement at the movies this summer, look no further than Baby Driver. Written and directed by fanboys everywhere’s favorite Edgar Wright, Baby Driver is a stylish explosion of genre-blending action thriller, romantic heist movie and crime film all in one.
Baby Driver centers around a kid named Baby (Ansel Elgort), a Wayfarers-wearing youth who keeps a mostly wordless demeanor (think Steve McQueen or Ryan Gosling’s strong and silent type high school selves) and who, after getting mixed up in a world of crime, is forced to pay off a debt to crime boss Doc (Kevin Spacey) by wheeling around more hardened criminals post-heists.
Winding and wheeling his way around Atlanta’s city streets, Baby evades the cops with devilish gear shifts and burnouts that will leave audiences totally floored (the movie uses no CGI for the car stunt work). Every hairpin turn of every getaway drive is accompanied by some carefully curated song queued up on his iPod. Baby Driver fuses getaway driving and rock radio so expertly, that if the movie is considered the engine, the music would be the fuel that keeps it ripping and roaring. After a traumatic car-collision leaves a childhood Baby parent-less and with an always-present ringing in his in ears, he drowns out his Tinnitus by listening to music, and at all hours of the day. Whether compulsively cranking classic rock cuts during his high-speed sprints or just serving up some old Soul tunes getting coffee for his criminal cohorts, music is as much Baby’s secret weapon as it is his distraction.
Beginning with the film’s opening getaway sequence, grooving along to the film’s soundtrack is like rocking out at a concert. This neo-musical experience continues through to the very end, where, after meeting the sweet, kind-eyed diner waitress Debra (Lily James), Baby decides to try and go straight and get out of the crime game – that is, if he can escape the ruthless Doc and the job’s skizo thugs, Buddy (Jon Hamm) and Bats (Jamie Foxx).
With Baby Driver, Wright continues to prove he is truly one of today’s most “visionary” directors. Fans of Wright’s previous films (Sean of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs the World) will know that he has perfected a visual identity and humor all his own, but here, Wright brings those elements together to an even bigger mainstream stage.
Baby Drivery is slick, slick, slick, and effortlessly cool, where car lane changes and drifting spins, camera zooms and quick editing cuts are all oiled up in perfect unison (notice Ryan Heffington, the choreographer of Sia’s “Chandelier” music video, is credited as the film’s choreographer in the opening title credits). The film’s opening scene, one long uninterrupted take set to “Harlem Shuffle,” is an amazingly executed number that sets up the internal rhythms for the rest of the movie (look for the song’s lyrics graffiti’d on the sides of the city’s backgrounds).
Taking the driver’s seat is the baby-faced Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars) in a role that requires the young actor to play both the strong and silent type while keeping his youthful aloofness intact. Wright’s remaining ensemble is just as well cast: it’s always a treat to see Kevin Spacey play bad, as well as Jamie Foxx as a menacing character. Lily James delights as a Southern Belle, but the scene-stealing performances go to Jon Hamm, who sheds his Don Draper image for a villain with depth as well as the likely unknown CJ Jones – a real-life deaf stand-up entertainer who plays Baby’s guardian, lending a great performance and character to this whiz-bang movie.
If you’re looking for an adrenaline rush this summer, do yourself a favor – see Baby Driver in theaters. It’s not only one of the best films of the summer, but of the year to date.
‘Baby Driver’ is rated R for language throughout and violence. 113 minutes. Now playing in theaters.