A Breath of Fresh Air

Rating: 10/10 (3 April 2018)

Fuelled by music, humour and full-on action, "Baby Driver" hits the screen like a breath of fresh air and in the process provides that old Hollywood staple, "the heist movie", with one of its most exciting makeovers ever. A terrific collection of songs provides the heartbeat for the action and some outstanding car chases provide the excitement. That's not all, however, because its humour, romantic interludes and the importance of the central character's relationships, together ensure that "Baby Driver" also has plenty of heart and soul.
Music-loving getaway driver, Baby (Ansel Elgort) has worked for Atlanta crime boss Doc (Kevin Spacey) ever since, at a very young age, he was naïve enough to steal Doc's Mercedes complete with some very valuable "junk in the trunk". His exceptional driving skills were so impressive, even at that early stage of his career, that Doc immediately recruited him to work for his outfit. During his employment as a super-skilled wheelman working on a series of heists that Doc masterminds, he's earned regular money (which he stashes away under the floorboards of the apartment he shares with his foster dad) and has also paid off most of the debt that he owes to Doc as a result of his transgression with the Mercedes.
Baby is an orphan whose parents were killed in the car accident that left him with the "hum in the drum" (tinnitus) that he has since counteracted by using his collection of I-Pods to drown out the noise. His mother was a talented singer who was physically abused by his father and he still thinks of her regularly and misses her greatly. Since losing his parents, he has lived with his kind, good-natured foster dad, Joe (C.S. Jones), who quietly despairs about Baby's involvement in crime but also relies on him more than ever since he's become deaf and elderly.
At "Bo's Diner", where his mother used to work, he meets and falls for a young waitress called Debora (Lily Jones) and despite them spending their first date at a Laundromat, they get on well with Debora also having had the experience of caring for a parent and saying "it might seem tough now, but when they're gone, you miss having someone to care for". By the time they're out on their second date, Baby's under the impression that he no longer has to work for Doc because he's paid off his full debt but Doc doesn't see it that way and threatens to harm Joe and Debora if Baby doesn't co-operate.
With his ear-buds always plugged-in and his natural reticence, Baby is seen as the outsider of the gang and is viewed with suspicion by the other gang-members who openly question his mental well-being and encourage him to not pick up the phone if Doc invites him to take part in any further jobs. By contrast, Doc has absolutely no doubts about his intelligence or the value of his other skills.
Doc's modus operandi involves changing his gang-members for each new heist and likewise, he decides that, for their next job, they should acquire some new "hardware" but when the gang, including Baby, meet a group of arms dealers to do this, things turn chaotic and the dealers all end up dead. The heist that follows then goes equally badly and from that point on, things degenerate into the storm of violence that eventually brings the gang's activities to a definite end.
The chases and stunts in this movie are incredibly well-staged and tremendous fun to watch. It's also enjoyable to see how Baby changes gear and hits the accelerator during one of his getaways in time to the tune that he's playing on his I-Pod and similarly, when he's on the coffee run for the gang, the way he walks, weaves and swerves between the other people on the street is all synchronised to the rhythm of his music. There's also another great moment in the Laundromat sequence when he and Debora are seen foot-tapping together in time to T-Rex.
Jon Bernthal, Eiza Gonzalez, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx are all superb as fellow gang-members and Kevin Spacey brings great authority to his role as a criminal who has survived well over the years by being exceptionally smart and ruthless but when events expose his Achilles heel (he's an old romantic), it makes him change his behaviour and as a consequence, he puts himself in danger.
It's really rare to see such a slick, stylish and smart movie that so naturally emits so much energy, excitement and exhilaration. It's a real thrill-ride from start to finish and is unquestionably one of the freshest and best crime movies to have been released in recent years.