Baby Driver (2017)

Baby Driver (2017)

Dir: Edgar Wright

Car Car Land

After a decade of hoping to get this project off the ground, Baby Driver is the latest instalment by the wonderfully gifted Edgar Wright. Interestingly Wright was at the helm of the Mint Royale music video Blue Song, that short perfectly summarises the aesthetic sensibility of Baby Driver. The film essentially follows a getaway driver Baby (Ansel Elgort, The Fault in Our Stars) working for Kevin Spacey’s character Doc’s criminal organisation, in order to pay off a debt he owes Spacey. While being an exceptional driver, Baby has to listen to music in these high speed chases so he can drown out the tinnitus he developed after a car crash in his youth. From the opening to the final credits, Baby Driver delivers on practically all fronts. Harnessing that unique taste of all Edgar Wright’s movies, especially Scott Pilgrim vs The World, it is the film’s musical beating heart that gives the film such whimsy and delight. While the chaos of a car chase is ensuing, the beat of every track gives the film’s relentlessness that added edge.

The film clearly owes debts to films such as Walter Hill’s The Driver, a film which Edgar Wright put in his top 10 films off all time in the latest publication of Empire, and the likes of John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Paul Brickman’s Risky Business. However while these references occur, Baby Driver is clearly an Edgar Wright film. It possesses all the hallmarks and traits of a Wright movie, with his quirky kinetic editing style and charming, witty dialogue that just adds to the overall enjoyment. It is a film that Wright wanted to make from the moment he finished his script to the moment of release with no studio intervention (I’m looking at you Marvel). To finish, Baby Driver is a rip roaring romp of a ride. Its whimsical beating heart and incredible soundtrack alongside Bill Pope’s exquisite cinematography provides another gem for the annual Edgar Wright movie marathon. A film with terrific acting from Jamie Foxx and Kevin Spacey, the film flies by and simply makes sure its audience is having as much fun as Edgar Wright himself.