Directed by:
Edgar WrightScreenplay:
Edgar WrightCinematography:
Bill PopeComposer:
Steven PriceCast:
Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Eiza González, Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal, Sky Ferreira, Viviana Chavez, Flea, Wilbur Fitzgerald (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
A talented, young getaway driver (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. (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (17)
Despite Baby Driver’s occasional stumble and inconsistent perspective, I consider making an action film in which almost everything happens to the rhythm of the music that the protagonist is listening to or based on the current mood or occasion to be a great way to revive the musical genre (and, at the same time, to subversively foist it off on viewers who otherwise ignore musicals and for whom the year’s best film so far this year is Fast & Furious 8). We can reproach Wright for not being stylistically distinctive (he previously edited The World’s End), for not being capable of working with female characters, and, unlike his great filmmaking role-model Quentin Tarantino, for remaining, even in his forties, an immature nerd with a weakness for autotelic fetishisation of movie references (the road passing by like in Lost Highway, damaged sunglasses like those worn by Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde) and repeatedly telling the same story about protagonists who have to grow up but can continue to have fun in essentially the same way, inhabiting their escapist worlds while being tremendously cool. Or we can simply enjoy an original summer blockbuster with a great soundtrack and some incredibly high-octane action scenes. Since I have no plans to grow up yet, at least in relation to pop culture, I choose the second option. 85%
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Edgar Wright is a pro. Never mind what he’s filmed before; now, with his quick-fire editing and love of music, he’s actually managed to film one of the best gangster movies in a while. When I was watching it, I truly didn’t even care how illogical it was at times. I was enjoying an action comedy so perfect that I doubt I’ll get a similar experience within the next five years until Edgar comes up with something new. And you realize that once you hear high-quality music in the background of a machine gun firing off. You also realize it as the music gets intense when Ansel Elgort’s having his life-changing moment. He might be just a twenty-three-year-old pipsqueak, but after half an hour, I finally got used to him; because beneath the rough layer of toughness and arrogance, there’s a boy who’s lived through a lot. And that’s getting me started about the story, which isn’t exactly any good, but I didn’t even expect it to be. This movie was filmed to be visually effective and to be a conscious homage to all the (not only) Guy Ritchie gangster movies. If Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were starring in this, I think it could even be another addition to the Cornetto saga. But this way, it’s “just” a simple, but highly functional movie. That’s exactly what I expected from Edgar Wright and it’s what I got in the end. Thank you for an amazing experience. At times, I was thinking that I’m not gonna get a similar experience nowadays. The editing combined with the music – absolutely awesome.
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For the first time, I was genuinely looking forward to an Edgar Wright film, but this ride doesn't just hurt the eyes, it hurts the head. I don't understand the world in which the story takes place, and it seems detached from all possible realities and even genres. Supporting characters change their essence in a second, moods clash unpleasantly, and at the end, there are so many misgivings that only the sympathy towards some members of the talented cast saves the average. However, I am most disappointed by the so heavily promoted "musical" aspect of the film. The fact that there is an endless number of songs in the film, which simply play in the background of the scenes with Baby often humming them, simply doesn't make it a musical. The occasional gunshot or impact that fits the rhythm is a nice idea, but it becomes tiresome by the second scene. All playfulness remains surprisingly spasmodic.
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Edgar Wright is getting better with every film and this one made me incredibly happy. Baby Driver is an incredible stylistic film with cult potential and could easily become a classic in 20 years. It offered me more or less everything I expect from a movie starting with an excellent cast featuring the likeable Ansel Elgort, the tough Jamie Foxx, the pissed off Jon Hamm, the terribly sexy Eiza González, the terrifying Kevin Spacey, and the cute Lily James. The soundtrack is very catchy and adds to the great atmosphere, the visuals are flawless, the cinematography is unbelievably clear, the action is top notch (the sound design of the shootouts is among the best I've ever seen). The breakneck pace, the occasional humour, the emotional underpinnings and the unexpected reveals made the film an extraordinary experience, where especially near the end I felt like grabbing my balls and throwing them at the screen for joy at what a blast it was. Along with Hacksaw Ridge and John Wick 2, I rank Baby Driver as one of this year's best cinema experiences. This doesn't end with one screening. 95%
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Musicals can still be a lively genre not only in the predictable revival of classic works a la La La Land et al., but thanks also to the grasp of a formal master with ambition. Even though Baby Driver primarily mixes the elements gangster stories and romance, Wright’s concept of building the film’s overall style around the music is far more essential. Though this results in the characters singing and dancing only occasionally, cars dance to the music during chase scenes, shots are fired and banks are robbed in the rhythm of the soundtrack, and even loving looks have their own sound. In terms of the choreography of the actors’ movements, the camera and the mise-en-scène, and the harmonisation of all of these elements, the opening credits with the coffee run represents one of the absolute musical highlights. On a more general level, it is no less fascinating that the most youthful Hollywood film of recent years is the work of a man in his forties, which applies not only to the film’s formal freshness and feeling, but also to the unavoidable feeling of a generational litmus test. The trailer could evoke in thirty-somethings feelings of inappropriateness, which the film further reinforces with its overarching principle as a presentation of the inner feeling of youths growing up in pop culture, where everyone sees themselves as the star of their own video. Wright’s age is indicated only by his taste in music and the particular choice of songs, though like Tarantino, he has a chance to turn dusty old hits and obscure novelties into a generational retro soundtrack. At the same time, however, he also shows what an essential contribution Simon Pegg made to his previous films, because Baby Driver, unlike those works, lacks insight and the ability to not take itself too seriously.
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