Directed by: Edgar Wright
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jamie Foxx, John Hamm, Kevin Spacey

When I first saw the theatrical trailer for Baby Driver, I knew that it would easily be one of my favorite movies of 2017. I mean how could it not? It’s created by Edgar Wright, one of my favorite directors. It’s an action comedy, one of my favorite genres. And it boasts an interesting stylistic element. In this case, it’s the synchronization of music and narrative. It’s always great to watch a movie with a great story and cast of characters, but I think it’s quite a treat when we’re presented with an interesting concept that is the basis of the plot.

Sound is heavily used in most modern movies. From creating expectations, emphasizing scenarios, and describing characters and/or their state of mind, sound has many purposes. In Baby Driver it is at the heart of the story.

Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a getaway driver working for Doc (Kevin Spacey). In between heists, he takes care of Joseph, his deaf and elderly foster dad as well as falls in love with Deborah, a new waitress at the diner he frequents. We see sporadic flashbacks of Baby getting his first Ipod and seeing his mother, a promising singer, killed in a car accident alongside his father. These glimpses into his childhood show us how deeply music is intertwined in his life. In the present, Baby can’t seem to go for long without a tune in his head and buds in his ear. In early scenes he’s remixing audio recordings of conversations for fun. He dances to the vinyl records his plays in his apartment and owns multiple Ipods. The first thing he notices about Deborah is her singing. As Doc’s driver, he always has a playlist to go no matter who he drives with. Hell, even his monochromatic fantasies of a pinup clad Deborah waiting for him in front of a 1950s car feels like some Elvis Presly/Doo-Wop song. The choice of soundtrack also depicts his various states of mind quite vividly: Baby dancing to T. Rex’s Deborah after falling in love, and Blur’s Intermission playing in the car when the post office armed robbery gets botched putting Baby under pressure as examples. It’s quite fitting that Baby, a man possessed by music, bases his choices lyrically. One of the major decisions he makes in the movie involves wanting to run away with a girl he barely met, with a car he can’t afford, with no plan. It’s not a choice grounded in reality. But it’s a choice that makes sense to his character and backstory. To me, Baby is not a character but a song being written throughout the movie. His tragic story, less than wholesome connections and dreamlike-romance with Deborah make excellent verses.


Hang on! I gotta put my getaway playlist on first!

I’ve heard some people having issues with the ending to Baby Driver and it was also a initial issue I had with the movie. My gripe with the third act was the part where Baby got caught and sent to jail. Baby facing real repercussions destroys the fantasy and lyrical nature of his story a little bit and it sticks out like a sore thumb. In spite of this when you think of the ending as the conclusion to a song, it makes a little more sense. After Baby is sent to prison he gets out and Deborah is waiting for him just like he initially fantasized about with the 1950s style clothing and car. It ends with them embracing each other. It definitely feels final and there’s a happy ending to the story. Songs usually have a definite conclusion and end with a solid tone. Despite some unfortunate events, you want Baby to have a happily ever after, which he does.

In-depth analysis aside, I’m very impressed with how the visuals are shot in this movie. The choreography of movements, gunfire, and car chases to music is impeccably well executed. I think my favorite scene for this is the scene right after our introduction to Baby and the armed robbery in progress. Baby is walking down the street to grab coffee for his partners while listening to Bob & Earl’s ‘Harlem Shuffle’. The scene lasts for the majority of the song and has him walking through the streets and in the background you have little snippets of words and graffiti that are timed to the lyrics; you got a few seconds where a guy’s playing a trumpet solo matching the bridge of the song, Baby dancing and weaving through crowds in time with the drums, a guy having a phone conversation to the same beat. It was such a great scene that really sucked me into the movie and served as an effective, wholly visual introduction to the main character. Which leads me to another facet of this movie that I really loved. Baby Driver does a great job establishing the characters. Right off the bat, you as the audience know what these characters are like and what drives them. And their actions in the movie make sense - no one really acted out of character. Even with the plot twist in the third act (which I won’t spoil), it makes sense how the events unfolded.

Despite the ending, I really enjoyed the hell out of this movie. Like with any of Edgar Wright’s previous work, you can take Baby Driver at face value or dive in deep and still get something out of it; I could tell there was a lot of love put into this project. A solid movie that’s definitely in my top 10 of 2017 so far!

Recommendations: Solid summer movie. Must watch.
Rating: 8.6/10
Car of Choice: Subaru WRX. Not just for rallying.