The Most Surprising Film of SXSW 2017.

Rating: 5/10 (19 March 2017)

Edgar Wright is known to deliver, if nothing at all, very entertaining films. Baby Driver is no exception. With an all star cast including Ansol Elgort, Jamie Foxx, Lilly James, Jon Hamm and Kevin Spacey, Baby Driver not only is an extremely well cast and choreographed film, it just might be the best film of Edgar Wright's career. Telling the story of a young man named Baby, who is a professional getaway driver who needs music in order to complete his jobs, as he navigates through the criminal underworld. When he takes a risky job for a mysterious gangster (played by Kevin Spacey), he finds himself on the run after things go horribly wrong. With his girl by his side and his music in his hands, Baby must use his specific skillset to get out of the underworld.
Before anyone says it, yes, this film plays like a less serious Drive. The storyline is not what is supposed to stand out here, the incredible direction under Edgar Wright and the great central performance from Ansol Elgort are definitely the stand outs here. Granted, I doubt that Elgort would have been able to deliver such a great performance without the amazing supporting cast that Wright wrangles up, but he ends up giving a great performance here as Baby. The rest of the cast is more or less there for name recognition only as none of them go above and beyond in their performance.
Despite this, the cast are mere pawns in Edgar Wright's brilliant film. The real stars of Baby Driver are the stunt teams. These car chases are finally something new. With the incredible automobile warfare that the Fast and Furious franchise has given us for decades, it was nice to see a film embrace a smaller scale of car chase. It is real, exhilarating and downright perfect for this film. Truthfully, the car chase sequences here are some of the best that I've seen since Refn's Drive but that's just me. Speaking of Drive, how could I forget Wright's amazing choice of soundtrack. The soundtrack is about just as great as the stunt team's work on this film. This is very much in the vein of Scott Pilgrim as far as soundtrack is concerned and is bound to be a hit come time for the film to premiere in its wide release.
Overall, Edgar Wright delivers an action movie with a flawed perfection to it. The story is paper thin, the acting is passable (except for Ansol Elgort, who is terrific), but the action sequences and soundtrack are amazing. These two components are more than enough reasons to go see this film.