Baby Driver (2017)

Director: Edgar Wright

Story: Edgar Wright

Cast: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James

Music: Steven Price

Time: 113 minutes

Bottom-line: Extremely loud and incredibly overrated

With a storyline that goes something like “when TheTown meets The Transporter”, Edgar Wright’s action film Baby Driver seems to be the most overrated film of the year. The film stars The Fault in our Stars heartthrob Ansel Elgort and Kevin Spacey in the lead roles, with Lily James, Jamie Foxx and John Hamm in the supporting roles.

Atlanta, Georgia: Baby (Elgort) is a young getaway driver, suffering from tinnitus since a childhood accident. He constantly listens to music to kill this effect. He also records everyday conversations to make mix tapes out of them. He once robbed a kingpin, Doc (Spacey), and now works for him to settle the debt. Baby has to help Doc in one more getaway and his payment is done. Meanwhile, Baby also falls in love with a waitress, Deborah (James). However, things in his last job get awry, and despite the deal with Doc, Baby is threatened to work for him or else Deborah would be in danger. Will the next job be successful? When will Baby become free of his burden?

 

Elgort as Baby

Depending on your taste, the movie can be a non-stop adrenaline rush, or a non-stop jarring noise in your ears, and for me, it was the latter. The highlight of the film is the catchy soundtrack, from rap to mix tapes to Queen, and for some reason, always played in full volume. The cinematography had its notable moments, with my favourites being the single long take opening sequence, the aerial shots, and of course, the car chases. However, I was and never am a fan of extended – and exaggerated – car chases, no matter how action-packed the sequence may be. I was hoping the film wouldn’t fall for stereotypes, and yet, I found nothing in these action sequences that 007 or Ethan Hunt hasn’t shown us already.

Lily James as Deborah

As for the acting, Wright certainly chose the crowd-pullers: young and charming Ansel Elgort plays the stylish, hyperactive and cheeky driver, while on the other hand, veteran actor Spacey plays the calm and dangerous criminal mastermind, whom I wish had more screen time. Jamie Foxx does well in a supporting role, playing a robber similar to Tommy DeVito in GoodFellas: very short-tempered and talking only with his gun. I liked the bits of humour that Wright wrote into the screenplay, revolving mainly Baby’s name, love for music and his cheekiness – like his first encounter with Bats (Foxx).

 

Spacey as Doc

The way Wright and Price find a corresponding song/track for each scenario in the film is an interesting aspect of the film. However, other than this and a few bright moments with Spacey’s acting and the cinematography, the rest of the film wasn’t going anywhere. This is one of those “pure fun” films, but, well, not my type of fun. This is a film for all those car action lovers, but if you expect anything out of the ordinary – like I said – then the film is best left unwatched.

My Rating: 2/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94%