Green Goblin Reviews: Baby Driver
I know this is a random aside, but how weird is it that we’re at a point where an original Ipod is considered nostalgic? God, looking at that screen and seeing it on there in a adult’s flashback to when he was a child made me feel like I was visibly aging in my chair, like that one Nazi in the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Anyways, back to the subject at hand. Edgar Wright films have a distinct snappy feel to them when it comes to their writing, close-up camera shots and a lot of its quick editing transitions that are if not immediately recognizable are at least instantly seen when you nudge a person and tell them “Hey, this is the same guy that did Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim. Can’t you tell?”. It lingers so much that even in Ant Man (a film that he left halfway through production), you can still see his fingerprints on a lot of the scenes and conversations. I don’t want to say he’s underrated, because he’s clearly doing fine when it comes to getting projects off the ground and I sure as hell don’t want him to saturate the industry too much with his signature style, but he’s still not a household name yet alongside other auteur geek directors like Tarentino or Raimi. And that’s kinda sad, honestly. Hopefully this latest film will help to cement his name into the collective movie-going mindset a bit more. We got a winner here, folks. This is Baby Driver.
Set in Atlanta, the titular character of the film (literally named Baby, played by Ansel Elgort) is a prodigy behind the wheel; capable of driving circles around the any other driver on the road. He also suffers from Tinnitus; a continuous humming in his ear, triggered from a childhood car crash (that killed his parents) and he uses music to drown it out so he can focus. His ability to stay calm with his music playing has gotten him a legacy as the best getaway driver in the ATL and the go-to guy for any heist in the region. The organizer of said heists is a criminal kingpin referred to only as Doc (Kevin Spacey). He never hires the same squad for a job. The only routine person he brings in on every heist is Baby, mainly because he is the best but also because Baby owes him a debt, so all of Baby’s shares of the stolen goods go to Doc directly until his debt is paid. He’s given enough to live off of and has a modest home life, taking care of his now elderly mute foster father (CJ Jones), but with his debt almost settled and a potential love interest walking into his life in the form of a diner waitress named Debora (Lily James), Baby’s looking to leave the life for good. Naturally, Doc isn’t going to let his prize driver get away so easily, so Baby has to figure out for himself who he is now and how to finally escape and live his own life.
There’s something about heist plots that make car movies so much more approachable to the layman than racing movies and it has to do with the focus. I don’t care about individual makes and models of cars. What I want is a reason for them to be driving fast other than “to be the fastest”. This movie delivers not only on the actual car stunts, but also on the characters in said cars. Because Doc doesn’t hire the same group twice, we’re treated to a couple different setups in the car, prior to the final heist, where it’s a combination of the previous two. Jamie Foxx plays a psychotic gang-banger named Bats, who enjoys routinely picking on Baby as well as murdering whatever innocent bystanders are around him for fun. Unlike the others, Baby hates seeing people die and the fact that he’s got a murdering psychopath riding shotgun next to him for two thirds of the movie makes for some tense interactions, especially while Jon Hamm’s “Buddy” and Elizabeth González’s “Darling” are all over each other in the backseat, like a modern age Bonnie and Clyde. It does well to separate just how Baby operates from everyone else in this criminal enterprise, as the crew in the final heist are all economically set from previous endeavors. Baby’s in the situation because he kind of has to be, whereas the rest of these scumbags are doing it for fun. The other interesting contrast is in Baby’s own persona from when he’s driving to when he’s not. He handles an automobile with surgical precision, never smiling or showing emotion. But despite being a man of very few words, at every point up to the inevitable chase, he’s bobbing along to his music, lip-syncing and air-guitaring with no restraint. There’s an extended cut of him swaggering down the street to get coffee that would feel almost out of place with the violence and mayhem in the rest of the film if you don’t also see him doing it in the driver’s seat, playing a drum solo on the dashboard while he’s waiting for the crew to get back. His taste in music is also quite eclectic, going from Barry White to Queen and carrying multiple ipods with him for his varying moods. His soft-spoken nature means that he’s not as well defined as I would have liked, but his antics and mannerisms pick up the slack.
And this is isn’t even touching the stunts in this movie. These aren’t “using a car to take out a tank” level car stunts, but stuff like that eventually leaves your desensitized to the notion of escalation. No, this movie brings it back to just legitimate cop car chase scenes. It’s like watching someone shake five stars in a GTA game, navigating the streets like the back of their hand and knowing when to go, turn, reverse, push and slow down to avoid suspicion long enough to change vehicles and disappear. It’s less about the power under the hood and more about the setup and layout of roads around the driver and that can take more time and skill to layout, with actual vehicles in play and a smaller film budget.
This is a fantastic little gem of a film that maybe should have come out a week before it actually did, because I fear that the blockbusters looming in front of it are going to clip its wings a bit. And that’s depressing to think about, but hopefully enough positive word of mouth generates to keep this one afloat for a bit. Also, definitely look into the soundtrack. Lot of good to be had there.
9/10 I’ve yet to have an Edgar Wright film I’ve been disappointed in. This one is worth the trip out to catch on the big screen, folks. And make it happen quick. Because next Friday, something new’s gonna be swinging in…