Nowhere near as good as the hype

Rating: 6/10 (20 June 2017)

I was hugely excited for this, as a fan of Wright ever since Spaced. But I left feeling really underwhelmed. If you want a Kingsman style lightly amusing comedy with a good soundtrack then its great. But if you're looking for the warm, cosy, nuanced and observed humour and subtle wit of the Cornetto trilogy with a bunch of heart and charm then you might feel underwhelmed too.
Whats wrong with it? (spoiler free)

It over-relies on the central idea of music and syncing. If that had been one element on the side of a much more interesting and character driven heist film (e.g. just a gimmick of the driver), it could have worked brilliantly. But because its been SO built around that idea, you start thinking "really, is the idea even that interesting?" The syncing becomes more distracting with its fantasy elements (e.g. Hamm shooting a gun in time to the music that Baby's listening to). Its fine for a short film or music video, but it gets stretched a little thin across a whole feature (especially when there's precious little between these moments to be interested in).

There are precious few actual car chases. I was expecting a climactic crazy chase on a scale with the one in Blues Brothers, something over the top and cinematic as with Hot Fuzz, but it never happens. The action shifts instead to some pedestrian action in a car park interior. The chases themselves are fairly short and really not very inventive - beside the music syncing there's just nothing interesting about them. The opening of Drive feels far more engaging and interesting in comparison.

The central romance falls flat. The girl just comes across as fake and irritating, with zero chemistry between them. Because of this, Baby's purpose to be with her has no credibility.

The other characters are all weak. I craved some of the brilliantly nuanced characters of Wrights other work, even ones that pop up for brief moments (e.g. Peggs housemate or Reese Shearsmith's character in Shaun). Spacey does a hugely watered down version of his Glengary character. Jon Bernthal's more interesting character only pops up for a brief pointless cameo to make 'retard' jokes, never to be seen again.

The cinematography feels dull like a TV pilot, its just not inventive in the way that it feels like it should be. Visually, its the weakest Wright film by far.

The plot is clichéd. For a heist film, there is nothing inventive or memorable about the writing or story whatsoever.

The music is obviously great, and there are some nice amusing moments. But it didn't live up to the film I imagined from the hype, or Edgar's other movies, at all. I feel like people are just being suggestible to the idea of "cool music" and marketing.