Baby Driver -- good movie but not great.

Rating: 6/10 (2 July 2017)

This is a good movie. Yes good but not great. It is perhaps Edgar Wright's most sleek looking film. I still think Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is his best. Anyway, we're here to talk about his latest. Having heard about Baby Driver a while back, I did not have any interest in seeing it; nothing I would go out of the way for. Baby Driver is a getaway driver for criminals involved in heists; never using the exact same crew twice. They get away by evading police and therefore part ways in separate vehicles in parking garages; all under the orders of the criminal mastermind (Kevin Spacey).
The first half is better than the second half. Everything goes smoothly in the beginning. Then Baby (Ansel Elgort) whose real name is revealed as Miles at the end, meets and falls for Debora (Lily James). Arguably this is one of the highlights of the film. I like their chemistry and relationship. It doesn't start off too strong and never becomes syrupy. Another highlight is the scenes in Baby's apartment, which he shares with his wheelchair bound foster father Joseph. I especially hoped nothing bad would happen to him. I thought the quieter moments are the film's strength. I'm not heavily into action, usually, but I do understand this is an action movie first, so I expect some stuff to go down later on, although unsure how. There was a feeling of it not ending well.
The film somewhat falls apart in the second half; a lot of reckless things happen. Often like real-life, some of the decisions that the characters make are not very well thought out. I understand why things go haywire, primarily because Baby gets pulled back in with an ultimatum. He's reluctant to participate as being the getaway driver again for one last job. One of the robbers played by Jamie Foxx sees it as a set-up, so he starts a showdown over an exchange of some heavy artillery. The film basically descends down there; not on a professional or a technical level, but by some of the dumbest things the characters do from there on. It makes for a frustrating viewing. The plan to take down a Post Office the following day almost doesn't happen until Baby gives the final word. It all goes downhill from there. I think the character of Bats (Jamie Foxx) should have been taken out later on, although I understand why he doesn't make it in that particular moment. Buddy (Jon Hamm) gets screwed over the worst. Although he is part of the band, I actually like him. I started liking Baby as the film went, but I started having doubts about his character when it was just one wrong thing after another. At a certain point when he's dodging the police, he dons a different jacket, hat, and shades, so I thought maybe there is still a chance, but no. By drawing more attention, he continues on running, leaping, and crashing into cars. He had the driving as an advantage because he had the smarts on how to get away, but when he was giving chase on foot, I thought he would be more screwed. He knew how to evade capture up to a certain point – he's young, he runs fast; the vitality of youth, you get the picture, but he gets away only so far.
Ultimately I think it's a good film, not only because it's well done, but it elicits lots of reactions. I found myself chuckling at the comedic moments, which are very subtle; almost being a dark comedy. Or especially by the second half I was muttering things like, "Oh no, oh please don't do that, don't go there, I can't believe this" It is an effective action movie. One of the appealing aspects of a heist film is watching the people involved getting away because of the imaginations that imply. It just doesn't feel good watching everything collapse around people doing such undertaking. I say it again partly of Baby Driver being hyped is because it is counter-programming to the standard summer box office fare. Final grade: B-
By the way, the cook in the diner where Debora worked I thought was Nick Frost