Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
Baby Driver sets rhythm at its centre. Directed by Edgar Wright who is sharply returning to the form of his earlier vehicles; Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead (and trailblazing swiftly away from the car-crash called Ant-Man), Baby Driver’s style, tempo and sheer pa-zazz is properly infectious, right from the green light.
Getaway driver and music obsessive Baby (Ansel Elgort) lives his life through the buds of his earphones. Suffering from tinnitus as the result of a childhood accident, he choreographs every beat of his life to a carefully selected soundtrack heard only by him. Under the thumb and faith of characteristic heist boss, ‘Doc’ (Kevin Spacey), Baby is thriving as a hot property getaway driver. The only stop sign in his way arrives in the form of a complex moral code. Oh, and his crushing love for waitress Deborah (Lily James), unaware of the nature of his trade.
After being coerced into working for a crime boss, a young getaway driver finds himself taking part in a heist doomed to fail.
Further complications are delivered in the form of his numerous accomplices. ‘Bats’ (Jamie Foxx) is as dangerously in control as one might expect from a character who stakes early on his monopoly over the gang’s wild card position. Buddy and Darling, (Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez) are a couple of love birds on a frisky crime spree and a surprisingly safe pair of hands amongst some of the other un-savouries that introduce themselves to the fold. A brief appearance by the Chilli Peppers’ Flea as Eddie No-Nose (formerly Eddie the Nose) lends mega comic relief to a film wrought with stark tension.
Tension really is the word here. The movie’s soundtrack is a thing of beauty, each track lent perfectly as the assistant to its scenes prevailing mood. Written in as a character addition to the ever drumming, dancing and singing Baby, it works brilliantly to capture his ever shifting thoughts and feelings. Massive chase sequences are formulated to the driving guitars and yodels of tunes by Focus and The John Spencer Blues Explosion. The romances are tenderly played out by The Beach Boys and Barry White. With an iPod for every occasion, Baby becomes increasingly more likeable with every scene. Opting more often than not to take the silent approach (he is a keen lip reader) in a world full of sharp talkers and one liners, his musical reflections become an extension of his sensibilities.
With music and sound charging the film’s soul, it’s visual style is almost easy to overlook (now isn’t that a rarity!). Wright’s camera is seldom still. Movement is everywhere, it actually feels at times as if he is driving the camera with the same charge and skill that his protagonist drives his car with. Circular movements, ups, downs and pauses all blend perfectly into the rhythm of each piece of the film’s sprawling soundtrack. It is glutton for punishment for both eyes and ears. This isn’t a negative – it’s the same way that you might feel having enjoyed an hour and fifty minutes in Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant on ‘all you can eat’ night. Quality and lots of it.
There are a few corollaries here with films such as Whiplash and Guardians of the Galaxy. The romance plotting of the film has a similar draw and feel to it as the former whereas the character- soundtrack link with it’s protagonist is a straight draw from the latter. Supposedly the film has been in the offing since 2003 but it does unfortunately detract a modicum of originality from a picture that is otherwise completely that. The dialogue is determinably on point, yet in it’s rare failing moments, it wanders into the realms of cliche. A hugely inventive structuring is largely successful, yet struggles through it’s intensity in the film’s dying moments. Anyway, forget about it… none of this is any reason to detract from what is otherwise one of the freshest and most exciting films you are likely to see in a good while. Just go and see it.
Author: Joe, York store
