Baby Driver Review

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2018)

Edgar Wright's 2017 film Baby Driver, starring Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, and Lily James, is a without a doubt one of the most carefully crafted films of the year. Following getaway driver Baby, who is coaxed into continuing elaborate heists for his boss, it shows how imagination can come alive on camera.
After seeing this film several times, the I always think of each scene like a painting. If you just look at it, you will only see what is clearly there. Once you start analyzing it, you see how the finer details were carefully crafted together to make something truly meaningful come out of nothing. Every scene in Baby Driver has more subtleties than any viewer would notice if they only see it once.
For example, one might watch the opening heist scene and think it is just a fast-paced car chase sequence. Upon closer investigation, the two most evident features that speak louder than the coolness of the quick editing are the actions themselves and the camera angles. The two work hand in hand, as the cinematography compliments the action. In this part, Baby is driving a group of bank robbers to safety while on the run from the authorities. We, as the viewers, see a lot of high angles of this group in the car. Subliminally this tells us how the world sees them. The world is looking down on them, which accurately reflects how criminals are portrayed in the real world. We see them from up above, as if by not stooping to the levels of theft we are better than them.
These types of angles work cinematic wonders with the speed of the action occurring. Since they are on the run, Baby must act fast to ensure their clean getaway. Many times, during this chase scene they get put in tough spots where our hero must pull instinctual stunts in order to escape. There is uneasiness due to the suspense, and the shots of the camera reflect this. The shot changes as quickly as the likeliness of success of their mission: rapidly. This is a staple for the film's action scenes. Baby Driver excellently uses visuals as a means of communication with the audience to say what dialogue cannot.
Another prominent feature in this film is the strong presence of mise-en-scÃ¨ne throughout the story, which goes back to the point about the movie's incredible detail. The location, placement of characters, lighting, everything really contributes to setting the mood of the scene. One of my favorite scenes that shows this is the parking garage fight. There is a lot of angle play in here with the varying levels they fight on. Additionally, the lighting is excellent because it relies on the fire of the wreckage and the headlights of the cars to create the dramatic tension. Even if there is little dialogue going on, the viewer is left with a solid understanding of what is happening as well as how each of the unique characters feels about the situation they find themselves in.
Without a doubt one of the largest contributing factors to the mood of each scene is the music. What is unique about Baby Driver is that the soundtrack, which features a wide array of classic songs from the past few decades, is played through the headphones Baby constantly wears. For example, whenever the group goes on a heist, Baby starts playing a song on his iPod, which then plays as a part of the scene's soundtrack. If his earbuds are removed, the song stops, and we hear the same ringing sound he hears because of his Tinnitus. This adds an extra layer of immersion and brings the audience into the mood that the protagonist is in.
Baby Driver's greatest feat is its ability to bring the audience into its world through its clever use of cinematic elements. Overall, I found the film to be tremendous, as I re-watched it several times. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys films with incredible amount of detail, or to anyone who wants something awesome to watch!