Review: Baby Driver

There is a moment early on in Edgar Wright's exuberant new film Baby Driver where a character goes to pick up some coffee. The scene plays as choreographed as a musical number. The film's hero, Baby, dances and shuffles to Bob & Earl's Harlem Shuffle. Baby times his movements, even his breath, to the rhythm of the funky song. The scene perfectly visualizes the feeling one gets listening to a great jam and getting swept up in the beat. It also showcases everything that is original, creative and downright amazing about Baby Driver.

With Baby Driver, Wright has taken the style he has been crafting for several films now, from Shaun of the Dead to Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, and canonizes into something that can now be described as Edgar Wrightian. The film oozes cool and is entirely only a film Wright could have made. The whole film is edited and choreographed to fit the amazing soundtrack the film boasts. Baby Driver defines its own style as a result, something I think will be studied by filmmakers and cinephiles for years to come. Even the scene described above is a scene that Wright has done in other films but never with the same energy or craft.

Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a getaway driver with a "hum in his drum" that makes him need to listen to music all the time. He works for Doc (Kevin Spacey) who clearly has Baby under his control due to some debt Baby acquired. Baby soon hits his final job with Doc, meets Deborah (Lily James) and falls in love. Life is looking up for Baby but soon, as is expected, he gets pulled back into Doc's world, a world Baby avoids by even sitting as far away as possible from his heist-mates in the planning meetings. How Baby tries to create the life he wants with Deborah is the film's main joy aside from the immense style the film sports.

Wright has created a film that has everything you want in a piece of pop entertainment. The film is funny, thrilling, cool as hell, and engaging. Baby is a sympathetic character but also an admirable one. He isn't a criminal and never feels comfortable among Jon Hamm's Buddy or Jamie Foxx's Bats. The film's side-characters are one of the film's biggest strengths. Each getaway features a new crew and each personality is well-defined and colorfully written.

The film is a soundtrack film not unlike American Graffiti, only this has bloody shoot-outs and operatic car-chases. Mixing all eras and genres from mod-jazz and 60's soul to modern rap to Queen, the song choices are inspired. The film even manages to work in Focus' Hocus Pocus in an exhilarating car chase scene. In fact, this easily has to be one of the best soundtracks for a film ever. Baby Driver has bravado, joy, and cool in its DNA. It is completely original and the best example of Edgar Wright's unique filmmaking. This is the movie of the summer for this reviewer.

5/5