Baby Driver (2017)

Genres

Action, Crime

Director

Edgar Wright

Country

USA

Cast

Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Hamm, Eiza Gonzalez, Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal, Flea, Lanny Joon, CJ Jones, Sky Ferreira, Lance Palmer, Big Boi, Killer Mike, Paul Williams, Jon Spencer

Storyline

When he thinks he is finally free to have his own life with his new girlfriend Deborah (Lily James), young getaway driver Baby (Ansel Elgort) is coerced back for another job by his former boss Doc (Kevin Spacey). Only this time he's saddled with a too violent and unstable crew of thugs and Baby finds himself and everything he cares for in danger. 

Opinion

I'm a huge fan of Kevin Spacey who has been in some pretty shitty movies lately so you get my excitement when Baby Driver started getting all those good, what I'm saying, great reviews. But I also hated it because, while everyone (except Sati) was saying how good it was, I had to wait for months to see it. So I was frecking happy when I exited the theatre because it didn't live up to the hype, it did more than that. This is probably the best comedy of the year.

Although it's quite simple, there are some holes here and there and it has already been made like a million times before so basically already know how it's going to unfold, the fast-paced plot is very intriguing and manages to be very suspenseful and a little unpredictable as well. And it features a subtle and believable love story, one of those you wish you could have in your life (at least it's one of those for me).

But the plot has never been the important/best part in any of Edgar Wright's films I've seen. What's truly important is the character Wright fills his films with, a few but great characters, each having their own distinctive personality that makes them stand out and rememberable and that allows you to either sympathize with or hate them and their actions.

The characters, however, wouldn't be anything without a cast able to bring them to life, which is exactly something Baby Driver has. Ansel Elgort who I've only seen in The Fault In Our Stars gives a great, humorous performance in the lead role which only makes me hate the cast of Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo. Kevin Spacey finally has a real character to work with and, although he doesn't have as much screen time as I wanted (like I said, I love him), he was pretty awesome as the villain. And he rocked in the finale. Fine performances also come from Lily James who plays Baby's girlfriend - she and Elgort have a really nice chemistry -, Jaimie Foxx who is funny as always, Jon Hamm who finally plays a badass, and especially Eiza Gonzalez as Darling.

Baby Driver is also filled with humour, it is beautifully directed, it's visually stunning and it has some pretty cool action sequences as well - the opening is simply spectacular. However, what I'll remember the most about this film is the soundtrack. I did listen to it a couple of times before watching the movie and, with the exception of a couple of songs, I didn't like it. Listening to it in the film was completely different. Those same songs I didn't like were effective and fit each scene to perfection. If that doesn't make a filmmaker great, I don't know what does.

(And now I'm off to Google to see if there's a song with my name *5 minutes later* yes, there are. One of them is about a waitress, what a coincidence!)