Baby Driver Delivers a Nice Genre Mashup and it Provides a Much Needed Break From a Summer Dominated by Franchises and Tentpoles

Rating: 9/10 (6 July 2017)

*Minor Spoilers Ahead* We join our titular hero Baby (Ansel Elgort) sitting outside in a red Subaru. The rest of the crew is in robbing a bank while he's rocking out to the song Bellbottoms by the band John Spencer Blues Explosion. Baby was in an accident as a child and he's been plagued by tinnitus (a constant ringing in his ears) so he listens to music constantly to drown it out. The alarms sound and the rest of the crew: Buddy (Jon Hamm), Darling (Eiza Gonzalez) and Griff (Jon Bernthal) bolt out of the exit. Baby is their getaway driver and through some impressive work behind the wheel, he's able to get the crew out of harm's way and to their safe house. Doc (Kevin Spacey) divides up the take and they go their separate ways. Doc and Baby hang back, Doc plans the heists but he and Baby have an off-the-books arrangement. Baby doesn't get a share as recompense for a debt he's working off to Doc. Baby stands out from the rest of the crew because he's young and relatively innocent. He doesn't enjoy what he does and he seeks an escape, which he finds in Debora (Lily James). She's a waitress at a local diner and they bond over music. The only thing in the way of their relationship is Baby's job because all it takes is a ring of the phone and he has to set out for another dangerous mission.
Baby Driver isn't as big or as flashy as some of the other movies coming out this summer. It was done on a relatively small budget and compared to movies like the Fate of the Furious, it's also relatively low key. This isn't a bad thing though, the action scenes are thrilling and I appreciated the fact that they were a little closer to reality. The movie also stays very grounded in this gangster/heist story. It doesn't have a lot of grand ambition but that didn't bother me at all. They handle it well and they provide enough surprises to keep things entertaining. The other thing is that this movie has style to burn. They really commit to utilizing the soundtrack. I loved how the action turns with the music, some of gunfire syncs up with the bass for example and it made things just that much more fun.
With such a big name director, an accomplished cast was an almost certainty and there's plenty of talent to go around in Baby Driver. I'm not really familiar with Ansel and he threw me off a little at the beginning because he's so animated when he's jamming to his music. Once the character settles down a little, Baby is easy to like and the same goes for Elgort's performance. Lily James doesn't have a ton to work with as Debora but she has good chemistry with Elgort and she adds to the movie. Jon Hamm slips into his role as Buddy seamlessly and he looks like he's having funny playing a different type of role. Kevin Spacey is one of the best actors working and I enjoyed his performance in every scene. He borders on chewing the scenery but he hit the right notes. Eiza Gonzalez is beautiful and she works really well with Jon Hamm. If I walked away surprised with anyone it was Jamie Foxx. He was really menacing here, and although he's playing a terrible person, he was impressive. Don't go in expecting a lot of Jon Bernthal screen time though.
Baby Driver delivers a lean story but Edgar Wright doesn't pull any punches with the ending. The movie shifts into a breakneck pace and it sprints from plot point to plot point and set piece to set piece. You get some unexpected twists and turns and although they throw so much at you in a short period, I thought they largely nailed it. I always prefer an exciting wrap up if the movie can execute it and I think that Baby Driver accomplished that.
I'm more than willing to keep shouting this movie's praises but I have to include some very minor complaints. Involving a romance as a subplot in a movie is difficult because unless they shape some really interesting characters, you just want to get back to the action. Baby Driver does this better than most but I didn't buy the romance completely. I saw this with a friend and she thought that it drifted around being really corny. I wouldn't describe it that way but Baby and Debora fall for each other real hard, real quick and it can be hard to buy that she'd be so willing to give up her entire life after only knowing Baby for so long. How certain characters act stretches believability, they don't go too far but these characters acted crazy enough to strain plausibility.
With the surprise success of Baby Driver at the box office, there's already talk of a possible sequel which isn't usually Edgar Wright's style. If we get that sequel, I'd be happy as this was a fresh and well-crafted summer movie. But I'd honestly be okay if Baby Driver was a standalone. They wrap up the movie so well and Baby doesn't need another adventure to expand upon his story. This movie doesn't leave you wanting more, it makes you want to go see this again. I can't give Baby Driver a perfect grade but I was so excited leaving the theatre. You don't get a movie that comes so close to ticking all the boxes of things you want very often. Baby Driver blows by the competition and leaves you with some great action, an interesting and tight story and some funky tunes to boot.