Stylish, action-packed, full of swagger

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2017)

Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars) stars as Baby, a young, adorkable, but highly skilled getaway driver with a dark and troubled past. As a result of a childhood car accident that claimed the lives of his abusive father and loving mother Baby suffers from tinnitus which he attempts to drown out by listening to his i-Pod which is itself a tragic keepsake from his long lost mother. He appears to suffer from an ambiguous disorder which is lampshaded several times with numerous characters pointing out that he seems a little slow or off due to his intense focus, sensory issues, his habit of repeating dialogue from previous conversations, and the fact that he rarely speaks.
Baby acts as a getaway driver for a rotating crew of stick up men who pull high end jobs like bank and armored truck robberies. Baby stole a Mercedes years ago which turned out to belong to veteran criminal mastermind, Doc (Kevin Spacey), and contained incredibly valuable cargo in the trunk that was ultimately lost when Baby ditched the car. Doc was impressed by the car thief's skills and guts and is able to use his connections to track Baby down and force him to join the crew as getaway driver in order to pay off his debt.
Baby's driving skills prove to be so exceptional that Doc refuses to accept Baby's resignation after his debt has been repaid, he even blackmails him into taking part in another job, threatening to hurt Baby's deaf and disabled foster father who's age and health essentially promoted Baby to the role of parent. Doc also explicitly threatens a female waitress that Baby had bonded with over their love of music and desire to escape their current environments; the two had planned to run away together after Baby's original final job.
Over the course of the numerous heists Baby pulls off with the ever-changing four man roster he is teamed up with numerous dangerous, experienced and violent criminals like Buddy (Jon Hamm), a handsome party animal Wall Street trader with an expensive drug habit that he finances with bank robbery along with his action girl wife, Darling (Eiza Gonzalez), and impulsive, ax-crazy gun slinger, Bats (Jamie Foxx) who even declares that he is the one in the group with mental problems and there isn't room for another.
Baby Driver is on the surface an action crime drama about a young, troubled orphan driving prodigy who intends to run away forever with his manic pixie dream girl after one last job but is reluctantly forced to continue his life of crime which can make the movie seem like a cliché gumbo but I think Edgar Wright subverts overused plot devices while skillfully playing tropes straight and reinventing characters.
Baby is bumping his ear buds the entire movie so naturally the soundtrack is beefed up with lots of montages with expensive music rights. The camera work was more flamboyant than average and gave the movie a stylish look. Cinematographer Bill Pope shot the movie to give it a noir look and definitely hit home runs on the chase scenes, both the driving and foot chases, the latter resembled combat parkour more than a traditional foot chase. Chase scenes and stunts would normally imply lots of quick cutting but Wright actually made sure to make heavy use of long takes, especially the sprawling oner opening shot which went on for several minutes uninterrupted and gave the movie added realism.
The bittersweet ending was very realistic and unexpected, it subverts the traditional happily-ever-after ending at one extreme and the Bonnie and Clyde ending at the other extreme which was effective because the audience would likely lose sympathy with Baby if he faces little to no consequences and is thus a karma houdini. The movie was very close to flat out glorifying a life of crime but adeptly transitioned to a satisfying and believable conclusion that allows the film to (1) gain sympathy for the protagonist, (2) stand on it's own as a single film, or (3) leave open the possibility of a sequel.
The bottom line is that the movie excelled in almost every area, writing, character development, acting, directing, cinematography, editing, soundtrack, casting, stunts, and was R-rated which only added to the realism and entertainment value. I would definitely give it my highest rating of worth paying money to see in theaters, and I am hoping they do a sequel which I can also pay money to see. Definitely seemed like a second breakout role for Ansel Elgort who really carried the whole film on his shoulders.