Saw Baby Driver yesterday. It was fantastic. It’s directed by Edgar Wright, but don’t expect anything like the Cornetto trilogy.
For those who don’t know, it’s a fairly simple story of a young man who is a get away driver for bank robbers. He meets a waitress who shares his love of music and dream of getting out of Atlanta. He pulls his last job, but getting out isn’t so easy.
While the acting was great all around, It’s the film’s use of soundtrack, sound effects, and editing that set it apart. The songs being played throughout the movie are the same songs the characters are listening to. Through some masterful editing, the music and sound effects are synced through many of the action scenes. Speaking of which, there are 4 or 5 really great car chases.
I don’t like car chase movies, but this was a major exception. The thing was that they concentrated on creating memorable and interesting characters, great dialog, and strong plotting. It helped that the action scenes weren’t CGI; it gave them more depth. Plus the Wright knew exactly when to relax the action and ramp it up again.
Certainly not a deep movie, but entertaining and extremely well done.
Saw it yesterday, and enjoyed. My only complaint is that I knew it was a ‘music’ movie, and spent part of my concentration waiting for the obvious music selection, and then thoroughly enjoyed the final song (which has always been one of my favorites).
I think it’s one of the best action movies I’ve seen in forever. The storytelling, the opening hook, all of that was fantastic. Some of the scenes had pitch-perfect dramatic tension (like the scene in the diner when Baby comes in with all the guys.) I know ‘‘edge of your seat thrill ride’’ is the most played out clishe ever, but if any movie deserves that description, it’s this one.
That kid totally owned the role as Baby, and was able to communicate so much with just minor facial tics. But what impressed me most were the ways it was unique. The way the stunts were filmed as a reflection of Baby’s internal mental state and still coordinated with the music was really interesting and also something I don’t think I’ve ever seen in an action film. The getaway car became a metaphor for his life. The performance of the ‘‘bad guys’’ was surprisingly subtle, with the obvious exception of the ending. I liked that it wasn’t too on the nose. You could draw your own conclusions, for example, about what Baby meant to Kevin Spacey’s character based on the subtext, not Kevin Spacey broadcasting his feeilngs. It was really high-concept for an action flick.
I will say that the dead Mom thing seemed kind of like an unnecessary shoehorn, as I already found Baby thoroughly sympathetic by that point and did not need a tragic backstory to want him to succeed. I could have also done with a less passive female lead, but I’m picky about that stuff. She was fine the way she was written, not exciting or inspiring but just fine, which is a high compliment for this genre of film.
Oh, man, and that opening track killed. What a way to start.
I’m also not a fan of vapid car chase/crash movies but enjoyed Baby Driver very much. It was better than I expected. Despite not caring for vapid chase scenes, I do appreciate demonstration of actual driving skill. They rocked it on that. I also loved the strong attention to detail on the “deaf culture”. That was a fresh idea in a movie of this genre.
I liked the fact that it included the only appearance of Paul Williams that I’ve seen since 1991, I believe. Yeah, he has been in some TV shows I haven’t watched and some minor films I missed. I suspect that his brief scene in this movie will be seen by more people than anything else he’s done in the past two and a half decades.
My, does he give it everything—strutting and gliding, along sidewalks and into shops, during the opening credits, as if treading in the red-booted footsteps of John Travolta, at the start of “Saturday Night Fever.” The regrettable truth is that Baby’s a dull boy. “Aren’t you mysterious?” Debora asks. “Maybe,” he says. Or maybe not. His voice is papery, he appears to think that sunglasses are still chic, and, if his movements have any snap, it is supplied by the editing…given a chance to flee, he hesitates, not because, like Ryan O’Neal in “The Driver,” or Ryan Gosling in “Drive,” he runs in some existential groove of his own devising but because he’s barely a character at all. He’s an agglomeration of tics and style tips.
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An extremely well-written criticism that I disagree with. Those tics made the movie, IMO, especially because in different contexts, they took on new meaning. Or their sudden absence signaled something about what was going on with him internally. Considering Baby hardly ever talked, those nuances depended entirely on the skill of the actor.
I’m not gonna lie, this is kind of a genius film. I’m a little embarrassed to say that about an action movie full of high speed car chases, but there it is. It’s not brimming with emotional depth, but it’s a fine work of art nonetheless.
I’m with you, Spice. I disagree with that critic also. I think Ansel did a fine job portraying a very young man who was in over his head with a bad crowd but trying (as a young man would) to act like he’s in control. After all, he’s stuck running with “show no fear” predators.
I enjoyed the film, Edgar’s best since Shaun. But given all the grief that’s been poured over the dubious casting of Alden Ehrenreich in the new Han Solo movie, all I could think of was: why didn’t they pick Ansel Elgort instead? (did they get the names mixed up from the initials?)
He’s got the height (6’3" to Ford’s 6’1" and 7 inches taller than Ehrenreich) and has enough swagger and youthful looks that I think he could have pulled it off. Does he have Ford’s charisma? No, but who does? And playing him young means there’s an excuse for a combo of callow and cocky, which he succeeds in conveying here. It’s not a great performance, but it gets the job done among all the gunplay and spinning wheels.
Saw it last week and really loved it - it elevates the bank robbery-car chase movie to a new level. I loved how during the opening credits as Baby was making his way to the coffee shop, the lyrics of the song kept showing up in shop windows or on graffiti or whatever. The soundtrack was great and the chases and stunts were fun as well.
My biggest problem was trying to take Jon Hamm seriously as a threatening figure. But this is one of my favorite movies of the year so far, based on how much it exceeded my expectations going into it (I knew absolutely nothing about it when I walked into the theater).
Yeah, it’s one of those movies made by a guy who clearly loves movies. Without coming off as especially derivative, the film was structured and played like one of the French New Wave films from around 1960 or so, the dialogue seemed to come straight from David Mamet’s head, and the credit sequence seemed a dual homage to both Saturday Night Fever and Touch of Evil. I thought it went about five minutes beyond where it needed to end, but the soundtrack, as mentioned elsewhere, was ace, the kid who played Baby was superb, most of the other characters were hilariously quirky and the crazy level of character detail (such as the ‘His’ and ‘Hers’ tats on Buddy and Darling) made me want to see it again almost immediately.
Favorite film (of five) I’ve seen this year, so far.
I thought all the characters were great, but was especially impressed by how Jamie Foxx’s character managed to be funny and incredibly menacing at the same time.
Well, yeah. But I feel old when I realize that most of my co-workers grew up with a computer in their house, and they’ve never even owned a video card with as little RAM as my first computer had for system RAM, if they’ve ever even owned a video card.
I loved the movie BTW. As a WRX owner and a JSBX fan, the first car chase was my favorite. As a car guy, there were also surprisingly few moments where I thought, “Yeah, the car would no longer be functional after that”. It had a nice style and a pretty gritty story for what wasn’t a particularly heavy movie.
If I have a complaint about anything, I think it somehow made the horrible deaths of some of the main characters more lightweight, even though it drew attention to Baby’s aversion to be involved in that sort of thing. I don’t know how the movie failed to do this, but Doc and Debora’s deaths didn’t seem to be weighty. Even though the plot somewhat turned on them, it was just action.
But that’s a pretty minor complaint in an action movie. It knows it’s selling itself with style, anyway. I bought it.