Movie Review: Baby Driver (+trailer)

The cast of Baby Driver, Jon Hamm, Eiza Gonzalez, Ansel Elgort and Lily James.

Like all Edgar Wright movies, Baby Driver is a kinetically charged explosion of style. A lively thrill from start to end laced with musical sensibilities.

But considering his previous work (Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, to name a couple) this should come as no surprise. He is a restless director who seemingly enjoys turning simple plot-lines into hyper-jazzed features ... and he does it so well.

Ansel Elgort is the eponymous Baby. A talented getaway driver forever in debt to a criminal king-pin named Doc (Kevin Spacey).

Baby suffers tinnitus, a "hum in the drum" as the po-faced Kevin Spacey describes, meaning he wears earbuds with a carefully chosen iPod playlist to drown out the constant ringing - a distraction which he finds insufferable.

The iPod also provides the soundtrack to his life. He is, in a sense, living in a musical as exemplified in an early scene (that ventures unabashedly into La La Land opening sequence territory) where Baby dances down the street to Bob & Earl's Harlem Shuffle.

Baby Driver is a fine example of a genre film owing a lot to the crime, heist, and car-chase films of yesteryear.

But its musical sensibilities are what sets it apart in which everything is cut and choreographed very sharply to Baby's pumping iPod soundtrack. The result provides a modern-retro vibe. Yes, iPods are now retro (*sigh* ... I feel so old).

Elgort's background in dance is a casting choice that pays off - his sense of movement to the music being vital to the entire movie. Wright also gets solid (if somewhat predictable) performances from his supporting A-listers.

It's an ensemble cast of pretty big hitters who all seem to be enjoying themselves. Jon Hamm stands out as a delightfully loathsome Casanova.

Foxx and Spacey are in fine scenery chewing form, and a twee young-love subplot comes courtesy of Lily James.

By no means perfect, Baby Driver does threaten at times to become an overcooked mess stomping heavily on well-used tropes and pumping out every cliche in the book, but thankfully Wright's pin-sharp direction keeps things in check.

He knows exactly what to do with this material and never loses sight of his audience. Baby Driver is a joy to watch and it's clear that Wright loves making cinema. This is a pure cinema rush.

Baby Driver
Running time: 112 mins;
Rating: R13
Strong violence & offensive language