Baby Driver 2017

To see a middling piece of filmmaking from the otherwise transcendent Edgar Wright really comes to underscore what makes the great masterpieces resonate through the passage of time. Take his Cornetto trilogy: Wright achieved the impossible by taking superficially screwball premises, ostensibly more suitable for skits or video games, and using them as backdrops for three hilarious stories of poignant human growth & experience: the irresponsible Shaun needs direction in his estranged personal life, arrogant officer Nick needs respect for those lesser than him, and the immature Gary needs to break from his juvenile tendencies. With each subsequent film, viewers not only walked out exhilarated by Wright’s balls-to-the-wall aesthetic, but also inspired to become better human beings, having been successfully tapped by Wright into something present or missing in their lives.

Baby Driver marks a violent change from these works in both facets of style and narrative, and while much of it proves inspired & effective enough to his benefit, there’s an equal much that detriments the film’s emotional center, making questionable sidetracks from Wright’s trademark execution to provide something more subtle and unfortunately conventional. Don’t get me wrong, Wright’s newest is a finely functional film, and he still manages to carry over some of his sweeping entertaining flourishes. The film’s car chases are powerfully executed, melded together with a seamless beat-to-beat blending of soundtrack and action to maintain consistent engagement and capture the flow of an off-kilter music video. Baby’s backstory is well-conceived, making emotional sense of his passive temperament. Furthermore, seeing his desires reflected onto waitress Deborah creates a solid empathetic latch, with Wright even using thematic parallels within Baby’s questionable life of crime to further emphasize his need for escape. And seeing this predicament come to a head in its third act is an undoubtedly visceral joyride, using surprise to amp up the tension at every turn, provide something blisteringly in-the-moment, and end its simple narrative track on a satisfying moral note.

Yet despite this pleasurable shift in Wright’s creative voice, the film can’t help but ring hollow, even in the midst simple storytelling ambitions...because that’s where the problems lie: its simplicity...both in a scene-to-scene and thematic basis. In comparison, with each of his Cornetto films, Wright added a dramatic weight to his threadbare plots by giving Simon Pegg’s titular characters respective existential crises and flaws in need of fixing, therefore keeping a crucial emotional want and need in each of them and establishing a strong empathetic link. By putting these characters’ traits through the wringer in extremely exaggerated scenarios (zombies, robots, and all), human truths are discovered and thematic complexity is mined, naturally leaving a mark on their audience, all while finding hilariously subversive routes with the comedy & action genres. Baby Driver, however, plays it entirely straight, taking no narrative risks with its genres and placing a heavy reliance on flash and contrived circumstance to propel us through. Even our protagonist’s plight doesn’t go beyond the plain, needing only to break from the box of crime he’s trapped in in order to run off with his girl; so much for inner conflict. And when Wright tries to integrate some of his inflated Cornetto comedic tone into the proceedings, it fails to land amongst the sharply dramatic tone he’s already established, that instead favors the understated.

Now, one may be thinking: “dead simple stories like this can work if that’s all the creator is going for”, and they certainly can. Take Nicolas Winding Refn’s masterpiece Drive, a stunningly visceral film that elevates its humdrum yet steady sequencing with a meticulous capturing of its characters’ every emotional nuance. Baby Driver possibly could have worked outside of the complex, but unfortunately, the film is mostly inanimate throughout its second act. Important plot points and character traits masterfully established in its first act are strangely drawn out here, placing a needless timespan on Baby’s growing relationship as well as the tense preparation for the climactic heist. While certainly entertaining in the moment, with Baby’s partners-in-crime proving distinctive and menacing characters, most of the scenes add no further complication, conflict, thematic element that carries over into future sequences.

On an honest note, though: don’t let these flaws detract from the explosive experience Edgar Wright has bestowed upon us. He has remarkably lost sight of some key fundamentals, and taking a secondary narrative backroad did not always work to prime benefit, but the man clearly knows how to tell a story, instill emotion, and gracefully execute an action sequence; his creativity is well and thriving, and it’s always a visceral delight to take the drive with him.

Edgar Wright is someone who I have liked since the first time I have seen his work with Spaced way back in the day. Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, all good stuff, all hugely influenced by other films and directors. Baby Driver is going to be that way – anyone who does not realise this has not been paying attention.

We are clearly and most unequivocally in a cinematic world here, nowhere else, so there is not much actual realism, no sense to be properly had, if you let it go, let the colours, sound and action take you in you will be fine. The car driving action is up there with any you have seen recently and probably in the past too, fast past, ridiculous and mainly in vehicles that would fall to pieces if you really did what you see on the screen. Music and pop-culture has played an important role in Wright’s artistic career so using music as the timing for the heists and action fits perfectly in the film. There is the conceit of tinnitus to power this plot point but in all honestly who cares, it is just an entertaining film and we are here for the colour, sound, action and cool characters.

If I have a quibble, and if you do read these typo-infested little works you know I always do, it would be the tone of the story seems a little inconsistent. For the most part we are looking a criminal caper movie with what is obviously a kind-hearted, good kid who is mixed up with some real ‘baddies’ who air menace and talk about death and mayhem but mainly seem to shout and scream but later we get blood and death and menace and the most menacing character becomes kind-hearted, definitely to my little mind a bit off-kilter.

The music is eclectic and drives on the action scenes well, all good stuff if you are a music-head, unfortunately I am not but I do understand and see the artistry at work here.

Ansel Elgort is particularly good in the main role of Baby, perhaps a little too cool for my liking, but he was consistent and engaging throughout the film, clearly his supporting actors John Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González and Kevin Spacey all flirted with parody as they turned the nasty up to 10 but it was just restrained enough not the pantomime although all rather familiar. None of them had any sort of story other than bad criminal and thus they appeared even more peripheral than normal in a film of this type.

The weakest part of the film was the love story shoe-horned in with Lily James seemingly playing a character from another film. I was not sure how she was told to play her role but for me it was over the top twee and cutesy and even within the world we were being shown it just seemed out of place. Chemistry was clearly lacking between the young actors and it showed on the screen. I cannot say it is a minor gripe because it is a large part of the story but the whole film is just about strong enough to withstand it.

All in all, this is a strong entry to Edgar Wright’s filmography and it shows what good directors and film makers can do if they are given a little more freedom than big studio blockbusters allow. It will not be for everyone and has no place in the pantheon of serious films about crime. It is bright, colourful and as noisy as any comic book with acting and characters to suit that look it probably is not the sort of film I would seek out to watch again but this does not make it a bad film.

If you like colourful action and cool characters mixed in with some classic music tracks and you are not averse to a bit of violence, then this is the film for you – if you are the right mood for it this is a fantastic film for that, I am sure.