One Killer Track

Rating: 10/10 (17 May 2017)

Edgar Wright's newest film captures everything you can possibly love about going to the movies. It's filled with wonderful characters, great car chases, enough style for a dozen cool flicks, and yes, a soundtrack that is better than sex. While using a familiar story template (the Driver & Drive), Wright completely makes it his own, infusing it with his love for music and his film geekiness. Wright has a perfect filmography at this point and definitely deserves to be ranked as one of the finest directors of the past 20 years. This may be his best movie yet.
The cast is note perfect, the only downside is that Jon Bernthal's role is almost more of a cameo (considering the top billing). Ansel Elgort is wonderful as Baby, bringing an instant likability and purity to the character. The supporting cast is equally great with Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, and Eiza Gonzalez as the standouts. The scenes between all three of them contain the most electricity and tension.
The car chases are brilliantly shot, eschewing the dull over-the-top silliness of the Fast & Furious franchise for something much more grounded and much more exciting. The lack of special effects keeps up the tension with actual stunt driving, continuing the good trend of recent actions films going back to doing things for real, showing an understanding of the genre.
Usually, I try to not let myself get too hyped about a new film coming out, but this is the exception. I can't remember the last time I had this much pure fun at the movies and all of you need to see it. I was lucky enough to get into an advanced screening and I almost regret it: waiting two months before I can see it again is unbearable torture.