Baby Driver is a 2017 action/crime film directed and written by Edgar Wright. The film stars Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx. The plot follows Baby, a young getaway driver who is coerced into working for a kingpin.
Holy crap, I did not see that coming. Honestly guys, I needed someone to grab my jaw when the movie finished as it was stuck to the freaking ground. From all of the marketing that this film did, it did not capture what this movie was really all about, and my god was I so surprised by this film. Baby Driver does so many things right, that it’s really hard to pick out what is wrong, as this is a modern day Bonnie and Clyde (1967) film.. and guess what. It’s better.
So what’s so great about this film? To me, the stellar acting and characters is what really drew me in. As you all can tell from my reviews, I’m a huge fan of character and plot. One can’t be great without the other, and this film’s character (and plot in that case) were just fantastic. Ansel Elgort was Oscar-worthy, and absolutely phenomenal. Both him and Lily James had great chemistry on screen, and Jamie Foxx was scary good as well. Of course the infamous Kevin Spacey was in this as well, but it wasn’t for very long. Even with that, Spacey did a stellar job, and was perfect casting for his character. Character development was good, mostly with Elgort’s character, Baby, but there really wasn’t much more with any other characters. Most of the time that would be an issue, but this film is named Baby Driver so that’s the only character that really needs to be fleshed out.
The other aspect to this film that blew me away definitely had to be its cinematography and editing. At first this was a pretty big negative for me, but it wasn’t until the warehouse scene where it seemed to really click for me. The editing in this film must of been a nightmare to do, but the final product is just a beautiful piece of art. There are a bunch of quick cuts throughout the film, although initially annoying, they’re nothing too bad as they go really well the accompanying soundtrack. Sometimes it did take me out of the film as I would have preferred to see a lot more long cuts, but now I’m just getting picky as it’s honestly better the way that it was filmed. Another thing was this film’s CGI. Sure they had to use it for some scenes, but please tell me where they were at cause I could not pick it out for the life of me. No joke, this film blends its computer animation in so well that it blow your mind. I feel like this is how CGI should be used. As a tool, not a way to perform narrative.. I’m looking at you, Avatar.
I’m going to continue talking about visuals in a separate paragraph for one reason alone. The first act. Oh. My. God. This film’s first act is almost perfect in every way, and features some of the best visuals in any film. Although I mentioned the CGI was well done, most of this film was done with practical effects, and Baby Driver will blow your eyes out of your head with some of the most stunning scenes you’ll ever see. Everything was edited incredibly well, and the performances and music were huge contributors to this film’s fantastic first act as well.
Yet even with all this film’s characters, beautiful camera work, and invisible CGI, this movie would be nothing without its fantastic story. Baby Driver is a modern French New Wave film. It really humanizes the criminals to the point where the police are on the opposite side of the team that you’re rooting for. This feature is extremely prevalent post the climax in this film, as it almost copies Bonnie and Clyde to a ‘T’. Honest to god, I even thought this film was better than the late 60’s classic. The story in this movie drags you in from the start and provides a great deal of narrative by the start of the opening scene. Edgar Wright really humanizes Baby’s character throughout the story, and provides an incredibly exciting adventure for this young relatable kid. Also the comedy featured throughout the movie is some of the best in film, and had the theater laughing out loud constantly.
So in the end, Baby Driver was a beautiful classic in today’s day in age, and features a great set of characters, a great cast, a great story, an beautiful visuals all to the sound of an incredibly memorable soundtrack. With that I gave Baby Driver a “Very Good” on theVade Review Bar, as it has to be one of the best films I’ve seen all year. This has to be Edgar Wright’s best film, and is a movie that will have you racing to the theater time and time again.
