This Week's Movies - Baby Driver

The latest from Edgar Wright (Spaced, Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World), this flashy, cooler-than-cool car chase thriller sees music-loving getaway driver Baby (Ansel Elgort) working with a rotating team of bank robbers – including Jamie Foxx’s psychopath “Bats”, Eiza González’s scandalous “Darling”, Jon Hamm’s loverboy “Buddy” and Jon Bernthal’s appropriately gruff “Griff” – as well as their string-pulling boss Doc (Kevin Spacey). Also in this movie: Lily James as Baby’s girlfriend, Debora, a waitress in Baby’s favourite roadside diner.

Pros:

1. Man, it looks good. The driving sequences are truly beautiful, so direct a decent proportion of your applause towards cinematographer Bill Pope (as well as Edgar Wright of course). The whole piece is shot with such a gorgeous eye for detail, with every colour, every angle, every piece of clothing there because it’s meant to be there, in that moment, for a specific reason. You feel like this film is a very special one: innovative, dynamic and crafted with care, the passion behind it all screeching off the screen with every handbrake turn.
2. The music – and the way it matches what you’re seeing – is a genuine treat. Baby Driver will no doubt speed away with “Ali Plumb’s movie soundtrack of 2017 award”, if only for featuring one of my favourite songs ever, Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers’ “Egyptian Reggae”.
3. Jamie Foxx does incredibly good “gangster psychopath”. The standout character by such a long way, Bats is properly on-the-edge-of-your-seat terrifying. The way he plays with the quiet, messed-up Baby and pushes all his scenes to their limits, it’s just a joy. How he looks, moves, talks – he’s an incredible personality, and before you watch the movie, just remember to savour every minute with him. Thinking about it, I may have a man crush of a sort here. Let’s move on.

Cons:

1. Despite all the “FIVE-STAR INSTANT CLASSIC” and “MY SWEET LORD THIS FILM IS THE BEST THING SINCE CHOCOLATE CAKE” screamer review quotes on the poster, this film will divide people. It’s not a switch-your-brain-off Fast and Furious action clone, and I suspect with critics fawning over it as much as they are, some cinemagoers may walk out of the movie disappointed. This is a clever-clever film, a film that asks you to love the references and the slick camera tricks and the elaborateness of it all. It’s ever-so-slightly self-satisfied, and that will sit badly with many, I suspect.
2. The female roles are thinly sketched, to say the least. Baby’s girlfriend, Debora, is essentially just that: Baby’s girlfriend. The words “manic pixie dream girl” spring to mind, but she’s not quite on that level – she just loves Baby, and you don’t feel like you know anything about her aside from that. You just want more from her, and from Darling (Eiza González). To get a bit “film studies” for a moment, the movie is definitely from the “male gaze”. What does Debora think? Why does she do what she does?
3. The film doesn’t quite know how to end. Or, rather, it does know how to end, only it does so a few too many times (if you’re being cruel, about five). The development of Baby’s character is brave, asking you whether you should like him at all, and where he ends up is… interesting. I’ll leave it at that. My general feeling with Baby Driver is that it’s GREAT, but there are things about it that niggle me, and the ending(s), as well as Baby’s character, are definitely part of that. It’s like your favourite episode of Sherlock: you love it, but a lot of what you end up talking about in the pub are the bits you didn’t love.

Three word review: Slick, smart, special.