Baby Driver is a great film, there is nothing else to say
about it. It is about a young kid named Baby who can, for some reason NOT TRULY
EXPLAINED BUT NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE, drive like a Nascar racer that had sex with
one of the drivers from The Fast and the Furious. The movie never explained it
or talked about it, or maybe it did but I don’t remember, but it was one of those
okay he can drive who cares type of things. I loved everything from the music,
the driving, the scenery, and the cast. The movie has its ups and downs something
I will talk about later. You know what, I’m trying to find a way to structure
this but I am just going to flat out say that I loved this movie. This is what
happens when you give a director who knows what they are doing full creative
control over their vision.
The music in this movie was phenomenal. The music selection
fit in perfectly with the driving but also with the scenes and shots as well.
Most people will look at this movie and think this is about a kid who can drive
with music playing in his ears but it isn’t. Baby Driver is about
communication. Everyone has a way in which they communicate with each other for
example Baby communicates with the world through his music. Bats, played by
Jamie Fox, communicated through force and manipulation. Language is the key
element in this movie as seen through the relationship Baby and his deaf
roommate/friend Joseph had as they communicated with each other through sign
language. Like I said before this movie was all about communication and how
each character interacted with each other and the world around them.
The combination of music, scenery, and camera motion was
perfect and helped move the movie along and helped with transitioning from one
scene to the next. If you know anything about Edgar Wright you know he has a
certain camera style that he uses when it comes to his transitions, lets take
Scott Pilgrim vs the World for example. In that film movement was the
transition, for instance, when they are moving from scene to scene they placed
an object in the way and moved it in the direction of the next scene in order
to showcase the transition from one scene to the next. Scott Pilgrim vs The
World was about a young man and his transition through life becoming an adult
while Baby Driver seems to be about music helping a young man transition
through life. In Baby Driver, the mood of the song was the transition, each
song played a vital role in the movie’s transitional phase to help the audience
feel the intensity or even the calmness of what is happening. This was well designed
and thought out and helped the audience transition with the movie from one scene
to the next. Everything about Edgar Wright’s movies are about timing. He is not
known for capturing iconic scenes or even his dynamic shots what Edgar Wright
is great at is giving his subjects or his character’s life and help build upon
a story and putting the audience in the character’s shoes building that
personal relationship with them. In short, he makes the characters seem real.
I want to talk a little about the scenery in this movie and
how it showcased my city. If you are from Atlanta you can tell that Baby Driver
was shot and filmed in Atlanta because of the roads and the familiar
landscapes. I feel Atlanta was a great place to shoot this movie because of the
roads and the architecture of the city, watching it made me feel proud of my
city and how it looks on camera. The shots and the scenery were good but the
color palette of this movie was great. The color that was capture, in my
opinion, captures the essence of the city and how it looks from its dark
yellows during the day to its rich blues at night and every color in between. I
also enjoyed the scenes that took place when they were scoping out and robbing
the mail building because that was my school and it is funny because you can
see my school’s logo when Baby is running in the park.
**Fun fact: I was there eating my lunch watching them while
they were outside. I was eating my lunch while looking out the window trying to
figure out what was going on and to see it was Baby Driver makes me feel even
more proud because I was in the movie just…not in it…anyway…**
The cast was filled with nothing but talented people who
held their own and gave their individual character’s the range they needed. I
love Baby and his love interest Debora but they did not measure up to actors
like Jamie Fox, Eiza Gonzalez, Jon Hamm, and Kevin Spacey. I loved the
character development of Baby but in all honesty, I loved the development of
Buddy more and played by a more seasoned actor like Jon Hamm I shouldn’t be
surprised. I thought the cast was perfect and their dynamics fit each other
well. These aren’t award winning performances by any stretch of the imagination
but what these characters give you is a sense of realness to each situation and
an overall good chemistry that is shown on screen. You have people blinded by
power, lust, greed, and lack of morality that feels genuine and real to the
audience. I didn’t like Baby and Debora played by Ansel Elgort and Lily James
but their performances made it feel real. Once again, I am not saying they are
bad actors they were really good but when you compare them to actors like Kevin
Spacey it is hard to put them on that level.
Overall, the movie was fantastic a great mix of action,
comedy, romance, and driving. I must applaud the stunt director and the stunt coordinators
because this movie had so many great driving scenes that every car chase was
clever and exciting. It wasn’t just okay we are going to out run these cops
with our fast cars, no, we are going to out think them as well. Overall great
movie I highly recommend it I give it an 8/10.
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