Part heist movie, part music video, all action

Rating: 8/10 (28 August 2018)

After stealing the wrong car from the wrong man our protagonist, Baby, finds himself working as a getaway driver for that wrong man, Doc. Baby stands out from the other criminals; he doesn't say much and lives with music in his ears to drown out the tinnitus he suffers thanks to a childhood accident. Everything he does is done to music and he must have the right track for the job. The first job we see goes well but the second gets a bit messy... luckily Baby has been told this is the job that will clear his debt to Doc... unluckily it isn't long before he is told that doesn't mean he can stop driving for Doc. If he refuses it won't just be bad for him but also for those he cares for. The next job is to be a raid on a large post office... things will soon get bloody.
If found this film to be a lot of fun; early on it almost felt like a musical as we see Baby dancing through the streets as he goes to get coffee for the thieves after the first stylish car chase. We then spend some time getting to know key characters; as well as Baby and Doc these include waitress Debora, who Baby meets in a diner and crooks, Bats, Buddy and Darling. With each job the tensions increase and the body count rises. Ansel Elgort does an impressive job as Baby and Lily James is likeable as Debora. The rest of the cast features many well-known players, notably Kevin Spacey, as Doc; James Foxx, as Bats; and Jon Hamm, as Buddy. There are several really good chase scenes as well as a few impressive shootouts. There are inevitably some genre clichés as Baby falls in love, issues of trust arise and things ultimately go fairly wrong; that wasn't really a problem though. While this is primarily a stylish heist movie there are some genuinely funny moments... the scene with the wrong masks was priceless. Overall I really enjoyed this but can see that some might think it is too much style over substance.