Most films in summer are typically reserved for the big-budget, high-adrenaline films replete with a ton of visual effects. Then once in a while we are offered a small independent film with no visuals designed to tell us a nice story. The best combination of these films would be to put them in the same film, and this is certainly what we get in "Baby Driver".
A talented young getaway driver, Baby (Ansel Elgort) relies on the best of his personal soundtrack to be the best in the game as he's constantly plugged into his I-Tune machine. This makes him quiet and unassuming to all around him, but put him behind the wheel and he becomes all business. He owed money to a crime boss, Doc (Kevin Spacey), so after he performed his last heist to pay off his debt, Doc comes back around and coerces Baby into driving for one last heist, but he must face the music when this doomed heist threatens his life, his love, his girlfriend Debora (Lily James) and freedom from his colleagues including Buddy (Jon Hamm), Bats (Jamie Foxx), Darling (Eliza Gonzalez), Griff (Jon Bernthal) and others in which he is so desperately trying to get away from.
Others to round out the cast are Flea as Eddie, Lanny Joon as JD, CJ Jones as Joseph, Baby's stepdad, Viviana Chavez as Diner Waitress and Brogan Hall as Samm.
This was directed with dynamic power by Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead" '04, "Straight 8" (TV movie) '04, "Hot Fuzz" '07, "Grindhouse" (fake trailer segment- "Don't") '07, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" '10, "The World's End" '13) plus tons of TV. The way these very eclectic characters came to life in just about every frame was amazing. As with his other films, these were both comedy and drama, however not in equal increments, so this is certainly familiar territory to Wright. It was slickly and wittily written by Wright as well. These characters he created simply jumped off the screenplay and onto the screen for us to sit back and enjoy. One other film that seems to be similar to this is "Drive" '11 with Ryan Gosling as the driver. Gosling doesn't even have a name in that film except 'the driver'. He's quiet, shy, intense and knows his job very well. The difference is that with this film, Baby works for a crime boss whereas Gosling's role worked as a stunt driver, but even with the similarities, there were obvious differences as well. The slickness of the writing coupled with the quick, energetic editing and the incredible stunt driving made this film gritty, intense and extremely entertaining. Elgort's Baby and Spacey's cold, austere, blunt Doc were the ones that shined here. These two characters were completely different, but at the end of the day, they know what they wanted and went for it.
We've all seen films with car chases with guns bursting in the air and elements of violence and extortion, but this was written, directed and acted in a way that makes an otherwise common genre unique and different. Have fun with this. I know I did!
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: R 112mins.
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