Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a young man who works for the criminal kingpin Doc (Kevin Spacey) as a getaway driver. Having suffered an accident as a child his hearing is effected by tinnitus so he uses music to overcome the situation and assist him focus on tasks at hand. When he meets Debora (Lily James) and they bond over their love of music, Baby finally begins to see a chance for a life away from his current profession. But, love never flows that easy and baby’s attempts to free himself from the crime world are a lot more difficult than he expects and with the talents he has being irreplaceable he is forced into working with Doc’s crew once again but this time enough is enough and he kicks in his escape plan leading to a showdown with some unexpected twists.

 

 

With such a strong director filmography to date, an Edgar Wright release always comes with a high level of expectation, so my hopes for Baby Driver were very high especially after the high octane trailer driven along by Radar Love by Golden Earring and what Wright seems to be able to do is bring the comic elements of his previous movies into serious movies so that there’s enough action to keep you engaged but it’s interspersed with comic dialogue and wit that adds levity to the tension yet all packaged together keeps the movie ebbing and flowing between either extreme without ever peaking at either end which might sound a little dull but I promise you, it is not.

One point of note that must be lauded from the rooftops is the use of music through the film, not only is it a superb soundtrack of songs but each piece of music plays a part within the story and in a lot of cases the scenes pace and rhythm is in time with the score which is a brilliant unique turn for film which is not a musical.

 

 

The camera work through the whole film is great with some super tracking shots and pivoting camera works all at just the right time to enhance the moment while the driving scenes are excellent and with one of two exceptions there is no sign of CGI adding a real sense of realism add excitement to the chases, very refreshing considering some of the more recent over the top car related movie plots (I’m looking at you Fate Of The Furious!!)

Ansel Engort is superb as Baby, while I hadn’t seen much from him prior to this to suggest it, he looks like he could be a star as he more than holds his against his illustrious co-stars. The fact that you are often watching a scene through the music he is listening to gives his character much more audience impact, which is another great call by Wright. Jamie Foxx looks like he is loving his over the top role as Leon Bats, the loose cannon in the pack, Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez as the Bonnie & Clyde like duo Buddy & Darling bring a different intensity to the group and even the smaller players feel like they are important parts of the tale to give a great ensemble feel to the plot.

 

 

One gripe is that the love story, while imperative to the plot, sometimes felt like the weak aspect of the film. Nothing to do with the performance of James but it seemed a little stretched at times although I am being picky. There were elements of film noir, seventies crime thrillers and even some aspects of Tarantino in the film so, while it not an original story it’s handled in such a unique way, when coupled with Wright’s style, it creates a super film full of humour, tension, action and a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure like a cocktail of classic pieces of each genre where the part all add to the package and there a even a few Easter eggs for fans of Wright’s earlier movies to watch out for.

I hope that this one gets the credit it deserves and doesn’t fly under the radar in the season of summer blockbusters as it would be a shame to see this one slide past.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7.5 Out Of 10

© Darren Jones 2017