2017 Film Review: Baby Driver (2017)

Directed by: Edgar Wright
Written by: Edgar Wright
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James
IMDb Link

Funnily enough, the best description of Baby Driver comes from another one of Wright's movies.
Baby Driver is director Edgar Wright's fifth film, and after the Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End) and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, he has a lot of expectation to live up to. For better or worse, while amplifying his uniquely excessive and beat-driven style, Wright has eschewed his comedic tone for a much more intense one akin to older crime thrillers like Bullitt and The French Connection.

*Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead*

The story follows Baby (Elgort), a young guy with tinnitus who shuts out the noise using music, which also allows him to be the best getaway driver around. He works for Doc (Spacey) as a way of paying Doc back for a car he once stole. After squaring his debt with Doc, Baby tries to move on with his life and spend his time with a diner waitress he meets named Debora, but a few threats force him to keep working. The adrenaline-fueled chase scenes are played back-to-back with the calm of Baby trying to live a normal life and the stress and conflict of seeing Baby dragged back in to crime. The whole thing plays out excellently: the action is tightly edited and easy to follow while still creating a definite heart-pounding effect, and we're given just enough of Baby and Debora being cute to contrast with the action to care for their success.

As just about everyone who sees this movie will tell you, the whole film is essentially set to music. The film moves to the beat of the song that plays, the camera cutting on the beats or characters performing actions in time to the songs, diagetic and non-diagetic sounds mixing with one another to create an effect that encapsulates you in the film's movement. This is quite common in Wright's work; see The World's End's Alabama Song scene or just about any scene from Scott Pilgrim for examples. However, in the case of Baby Driver it is used for thrills rather than comedy, enhancing the film's excitement and action pacing and giving the film some extra oomph where it counts.

Not that the action is in dire need of 'oomph'. Baby Driver's action is fantastic, the cuts on the beats evoking both the hectic pace that Baby works at and the inherent control he has in any driving situation. The beats and the cuts come quickly, but you're aware of when they're coming, just as Baby is aware of each move he needs to make on the road. Even as Baby pulls off crazier and crazier stunts and the blood pumps faster and faster, there's a strange sense of calm over the tension of the situation, the idea that we know that Baby knows what to do. This really also reinforces the level of control and effort that went in to the direction and editing of this film, the way everything syncs up (Wright's regular use of the match cut included) is almost perfect.

Wright's excellent direction extends to the film's few slower scenes, and in the film's little moments where music disappears. The time spent on the romantic subplot isn't revolutionary and intentionally old-fashioned, but so plainly pure in intention that you care for it at the most basic level. Baby is a good guy in a bad spot who wants to get out and get his girl, that's all there is to it, but that's also all there really needs to be in this movie for us to hope for a happy resolution. Likewise, the scenes without music are few and far between, but every moment that doesn't have it is deliberate, a sharp wake-up call that evokes a little anxiety as it helps sympathise with Baby's character, especially when the film includes his tinnitus in what we an hear. The film's action is a tense enough with the music, take that away and it becomes almost stressful, like the music acts as a safety net to remind us that everything is going to be ok in the end, and removing it tells us that for the moment, it might not be. It hammers home just how well Wright uses sound in this film.

The Verdict: Baby Driver is an intense and focused thrill ride that never lets you leave the edge of your seat. Wright's timing and style is as finely tuned as ever, keeping your blood pumping and your foot tapping through the musically synchronized chase scenes and shootouts. I highly recommend you see this film, though I caution fans of Wright's previous work to not expect a comedy.

Rating: 8.5/10

Published Thursday, July 13th, 2017