Since Edgar Wright is mainly known as a director of comedy films, I initially dismissed this as more of the same, especially since my wife doesn’t get his English brand of humor. My cinephile friend told me that this is something else entirely and really quite good, so I put it on my list. But that was of course way after it had already finished its run in the cinemas.
Baby is a young man who constantly listens to music as a way of coping with tinnitus. Due to his extraordinary driving skill, he works as a getaway driver for Doc who organizes and plans heists. Years ago, he stole one of Doc’s cars with valuable loot inside and has been paying off his debt. In between a couple of jobs, he meets Bo, a waitress in a diner, and gets to know her. After he has completely paid off his debt and gets a job as an ordinary pizza deliveryman, Doc still pressures him to participate in heists. The latest one includes a crewmember nicknamed Bats who proves to be extremely prone to violence. When Doc tells them to go to a meet to pick up some weapons, Bats realizes that the sellers are all police officers and starts a shootout with them. This sets off a cataclysmic chain of events that puts everyone Baby loves in danger.
This is as plain and simple a plot as you can imagine yet the film makes a mark on you right from the get go due to its fantastic execution and pacing. The omnipresent music plays a huge part in this, providing a constant soundtrack to Baby’s life. All of his movements, whether speeding in a car while being chased or carrying takeaway cups of coffee on the pavement, is choreographed to the beat of the music. There’s so much energy in this film and the conversations flow so well. One of the most interesting things is that every character has likable or at least sympathetic qualities even if they are horrible people and of course unrepentant criminals. For example Bats is a scary homicidal asshole yet he has quirks like psyching himself up for the robbery by reciting a mantra about how the money there is already is and the people there are keeping it away from him. There are no generic, empty characters here and this makes the film so entertaining and so much fun to watch.
As well made as it is, Baby Driver is still a commercial film and makes compromises for the sake of excitement and action. It’s implausible for example that Doc, who has been portrayed as being professional and meticulous in his planning, would believe that a wild card like Bats would make for a good team player. For a while the story seems reasonably realistic, after accounting for Baby’s near superhuman driving skill, but it completely goes off the rails once they start shooting up the police and still believe that they can get away with it. It’s a fun ride, sure, but the only reason why you’re not rolling your eyes is because the execution is so slick and the action is so perfect in sync with the music.
One last thing that really appeals to me is that all the actors seem to having a lot of fun and that makes it great for the audience too. Jamie Foxx is over the top violent as Bats but seems to having a great time at it. I love how they make Jon Hamm as the crew member who is best able to bond with Baby and ends up being antagonistic due to later events, though he is better at being a good buddy than as an enemy. Plus of course Lily James is in here as Bo and she has so much more personality here than in Cinderella. There’s no deep meaning to ponder here but it’s great fun and great entertainment and there’s nothing wrong with that.