A really good movie that fizzles badly in the end (some spoilers)

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2017)

After seeing Baby Driver, one thought kept going through my mind over and over again: Boy, oh boy, what if Quentin Tarantino had directed it? This kind of movie was made for him. In some ways it feels like a modern-day Reservoir Dogs. Put a bunch of criminals together and at some point there will be betrayal, and bloodshed. Director Edgar Wright did a commendable job, but had Tarantino gotten a hold of this project, I know the character development, writing and directing would have been much crisper. The characters are interesting: Kevin Spacey as the level-headed leader of a gang of thieves, with Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal and a grizzled-looking Jon Hamm among the thieves. Hamm is about as far-removed from Don Draper as can be and proves he shouldn't be typecast. But the focus is on the baby-faced Ansel Elgort as Baby, who is a helluva getaway driver. He is still tormented by a childhood tragedy and listens to music through his headphones all day, even when he's driving. The other important star of the movie is the soundtrack. It drives the entire narrative, an idea that seems borrowed from Guardians of the Galaxy. But the music is great. From the Commodores, to Queen, to Barry White, songs are used effectively. The plot revolves around Baby's quest to do "one final job" and then get out of the crime business. We've seen this before many times. It never ends well. Along the way, Baby meets Debora, a bubbly waitress played by Lily James, who looks like a young Jessica Lange. She also is obsessed with music, just like Baby, and they fall hard for each other in what seems like five minutes. However, their ultimate plan to ride off into the sunset together and listen to music will be easier said than done. The first hour of Baby Driver is strong. But the final half-hour devolves into a cliché-ridden mess, with supposedly dead characters suddenly reappearing and bad guys failing to kill good guys despite having them in their cross-hairs several times. It's almost as if the producers ran out of money and decided to call it a day. Baby Driver is the second movie in a row, following All Eyez on Me, that disappointed me. Not because they were bad, but because they could have been so much better in the hands of a different director. So to sum up, Baby Driver is interesting for a while, but eventually wraps up like just about every other caper. Well, at least there's great music along the way.