Baby Driver (2017)
Directed & Written by Edgar Wright
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx
Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
After being coerced into working for a crime boss, a young getaway driver finds himself taking part in a heist doomed to fail.
My Opinion:
I’m so behind on movie reviews but don’t want to miss out on writing something about this one. Because it’s good! So this will be a quickie review. I’d love to hear from others who’ve seen it. More than anything, I badly need to catch up on replying to all your comments on my blog! Sorry about that. I’ll catch up on that soon. Now let’s talk a little bit about Baby Driver…
I know Edgar Wright has some diehard fans thanks to his Cornetto Trilogy (I reviewed all three films together HERE). Those are great, especially Shaun Of The Dead, so it’s obvious why he has loyal fans. Baby Driver, in my opinion, is actually the best film he’s done so far. I love Shaun & it’s a great horror comedy but Baby Driver feels more timeless. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect but did think it would be a little more similar to Shaun, Hot Fuzz, World’s End, Scott Pilgrim, etc. It’s not. It’s very different. It’s not a comedy, although it does have some humorous moments (which is fine with me, as I’m not a huge fan of most comedies anyway). But it’s a kick ass crime/heist movie with great characters & a fantastic soundtrack. It’s pure entertainment, which is missing from movies far too often nowadays. But it’s not dumb Michael-Bay-Style pure entertainment – it’s pure entertainment that puts time & effort into its script, its characters, its look, and its awesome soundtrack (Did I mention its awesome soundtrack? Oh yes, I believe I did. It has an awesome soundtrack).
Baby Driver feels like it can stand alongside some of the great crime/heist thrillers of the 70s & 80s in that, 20 years from now, I think it will be seen the same way that we see things like The French Connection nowadays (although I’ve never actually seen that – I better add that to Blind Spot 2018!). Or… Perhaps Walter Hill’s The Driver (which I’ve also never seen) since Wright gave Hill a cameo in this film. Oh! Yes, I just checked IMDb trivia to verify. I wanted to know Wright’s influences for Baby Driver:
“This film drew inspiration from The Driver (1978), Raising Arizona (1987), The Blues Brothers (1980), and Riding Bean (1989).”
Well, Walter Hill’s The Warriors easily remains my absolute favorite older film that I watched for the very first time since starting my blog almost five years ago, so… Hill’s The Driver is probably worth a watch as Wright clearly has good taste since he’s made such a good film. Oh – and he also gave Paul Williams a small role in this as well. You know – the Rainbow Connection, Phantom Of The Paradise Paul Williams (you young bloggers don’t know who I’m on about). Wright’s influences are obvious (and similar to the things I like seeing as we’re a similar age, I guess) and his love of films & music really shows in how he’s made Baby Driver. It reminds me of how Tarantino makes his films: as a nerdy superfan. And that’s the way it should be. If you love your job, it’s going to be obvious in the final product that you produce.
I liked Baby Driver a lot and I’d say it’s probably my number one movie of 2017 so far but I’m not sure if I exactly loved it in the same way I loved the insanely fun & action-packed Mad Max: Fury Road a couple of years ago. I compare them as it seems like I should feel similar about two really great action films, which is a genre that often disappoints me. I really liked the characters in Baby Driver and I always adore a good love story. In this case, there are several and the girl/boy love story isn’t necessarily my favorite. Baby’s love for a pretty waitress is nice but we also see his love for his mother, his foster father, driving, and MUSIC. I’m going to connect with any movie that shows as much passion for music as this one does. I can’t think of any other movies that have focused on the love of music so much (without the story actually being about music). It works really well so I’m not sure why the film didn’t quite connect with me as much as I expected it to. I do think it’s a film that will grow on me, though, and I’d happily watch it again sometime to see if my opinion changes at all. I can certainly see why the movie has had so much love already as it feels very unique despite having such obvious influences. As I said, I do believe Baby Driver is a film that will stand the test of time & possibly be even more respected in future years than it is now.
My Rating: 8.5/10
**Hmm. I think Baby Driver would probably make it somewhere onto my list of My Top Ten Movies With Song Title Titles… 🙂
Cinema Parrot Disco 
So many surprises during this movie. Funnily enough I didn’t like the soundtrack as much as I thought I would though. What driving. Nice cast too. Loved Lily James in it too.
I think the soundtrack is one that’ll grow on you. I loved that it decided to not go at all mainstream with it. : ) I read somewhere that Emma Stone was considered for the role instead. Thank god it wasn’t her! She’s starting to get on my nerves. James was good but I think anyone would’ve been fine in that role. She’s cute, though. : )
Yeah, but you’re for a film that is dominated by music you want at least something that will grab you Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Drive style. Good film though. Just as well Ant Man didn’t work out for the director.
True, but I guess it depends on what style of music you go for. This didn’t go as flashy as Tarantino’s musical taste. Or as electronic as Drive (I did love the Drive soundtrack). I think the music in Baby Driver will age better than the Drive soundtrack, though. It’s more timeless. : )
Awesome review! I’ll definitely share it. I loved Baby Driver, because I had no expectations, and it blew me away. Thus far it’s my #1 movie of 2017!
Thank you! I struggled with what to write about this one. I felt kind of like I SHOULD love it but that something was kind of holding me back from truly loving it to the degree that I love my absolute favorite films. Like, something is missing but I have no idea what as it’s a really damn good & original film. I think I need to chill a bit and stop being so picky… Lol. Because I do think this will be seen as a classic years from now & will go up in people’s estimation instead of down. I want to see more movies displaying the kind of originality we got in Baby Driver. : )
Absolutely loved this. I was worried it couldn’t live up to all the hype I’d been hearing, especially with directors like Guillermo Del Toro and Christopher McQuarrie chiming in on Twitter, but it absolutely did. The music, the characters, the dialogue, the action… It’s the first time I’ve seriously considered going to see a film again at the cinema for years.
Yay! I’m glad you loved this! I think we’re kind of similar (as in, picky – lol) about movies & I’m finding it harder & harder to find current films that I truly love. So I’m always curious what you think about current releases with a lot of hype like this one. I loved it but can’t decide if I LOVED it, if that makes sense. I think it’s a damn good film & lived up to the hype (films with too much hype rarely live up to it for me). I’m not sure what’s holding me back. Maybe I’m too old & bitter. ; ) But I did love it & stand by my opinion that it’ll be seen as a classic years from now. I want to see it again as well and it’s extremely rare for me to re-watch anything as I just don’t have the time. But I want it to fully click on another viewing. Because I want to LOVE love it. I’m making no sense. As usual. ; )
Maybe it’s that, even though it met the hype, there was a lot of hype to overcome. I was almost disappointed in it as a car chase movie, because almost all of the big stunts were in the trailers and the climax kinda moved away from stunt driving. But there’s so much more to love about it than the fancy driving that I was won over anyway.
There’s an awful lot of big movies that are just fine nowadays, I feel like, so it’s nice to feel ones that are worthy of love. That said, I feel like I’m throwing out five-star ratings willy-nilly at the minute. Hopefully it’s just that I’ve happened to review a couple of great films close together!
Ohhh. What else did you give a five?? 🙂
War for the Planet of the Apes, and Contact, and Nocturnal Animals, and The Girl with All the Gifts, and Road Games — that’s 5 of my last 8 reviews!
Okay – I still badly need to see Apes, Contact is great but not seen it in years, Nocturnal Animals still disturbs me months later, Girl With Gifts was great but probably not above 8/10 for me, and… I have no idea what Road Games is. 🙂
I went back and forth on Girl With All the Gifts for months, because it isn’t perfect, but I really liked the fresh stuff it brought and how well done it was on such a tight budget. I’d’ve gone 4.5 if I did half-stars!
Road Games is an Australian movie from the ’80s that I hadn’t even heard of ’til last year, but it’s really good — kind of like Rear Window but on the road.
Is it the Jamie Lee Curtis one? Just looked it up & it sounds interesting… : )
It is! I don’t know how easy it is to get hold of (I imported it from Australia), but I’d definitely recommend it.
Mr O got some vouchers for our local cinema for his birthday so we are debating what we might see for our SECOND cinema trip for the year, if we can get the grandparents to have Little O. This is high up on the list.
Ohh. I’m a little behind. Have you gone to something yet?? There’s been nothing but crap out for months & now there are four movies out at the same time that I want to see! Hmm. I think Baby Driver is great but I also think it’s one that some people may see as “trying too hard”. But I think that’s probably unfair as I do stand by my opinion that this will be seen as a classic years from now, when there won’t be any current day negativity surrounding it. If that makes sense… Hope you like it if you’ve seen it! And really hope you do/did manage a movie. : ) I know how impossible that is with a kid. I go to movies alone. So does hubby. We take turns going to the ones we want to see, which does get depressing at times. : (
We haven’t been yet. Trying to plan around the grandparents’ intense social schedule is a challenge.
It’s killing me that I haven’t seen this yet. I’m so sure I’ll like it a lot! I love living here in the north but I’m missing all those smaller films because our local cinema only shows the big ones and they usually have one or two screenings of each. 😦
Yeah – I hate not managing to see certain films while terrible mainstream crap shows for ages. I wanted to see The Beguiled but there were so few showings I didn’t manage to. I hope you get to see Baby Driver at some point. I think you’ll like it. 🙂
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