Film Review - Baby Driver (15)

One more job and I'm done.

Here's a handgun-blast of originality in the middle of the Blockbuster Summer 2017. Edgar Wright, best known for his 'Cornetto Trilogy' (including the now classic Shaun of the Dead), brings us Baby Driver. It's a labour of love, five years in gestation and now birthed onto the screen in vibrant colour with a roaring soundtrack to match. Yes it's got cars and guns and sweet rocking tunes, but it's also got a big beating heart and a central character you'll root for to the end. His name's Baby - and yes, he's the driver in question.

That's a getaway driver to be specific (played by rising star Ansel Elgort), one reluctantly in the employ of Kevin Spacey's criminal mastermind Doc. He's young and introverted, and superb at what he does, insistent that each retreat from a heist be backed by the right 'killer track' on his earphones. The reasons for this, and for how such a clean-cut youngster became embroiled in crime, are all neatly sketched by the screenplay. Baby's music is more necessity than choice. What this gives us is a film where the protagonist's personal soundtrack serves as a tight rhythmic accompaniment to most of the action, whether fast-paced or quiet. It's music as fuel, more intimately connected to that drama than anything you've experienced outside of an actual musical.

There's a girl too (well of course there is) - the UK's Lily James as a waitress called Debora, who shares Baby's passion for music, but knows nothing of his dubious profession. Baby is counting down the jobs till he has paid off his obligations to Doc, and can drive instead into a sunset with his new love - but getting out is never that easy, least of all in the movies.

If this all sounds familiar, it's good to remember that Wright, like his pal Quentin Tarantino, has built a career on retooling genre films with fresh ideas and whip-smart direction. As well as the central conceit of Baby's reliance on music, Baby Driver brings all of Wright's directorial finesse to bear on the story. Car chases and shoot-outs, as well as more intimate scenes between Baby and his girl or his foster-dad, are crafted with painstaking shot-by-shot attention that we saw in Hot Fuzz and The World's End. The action provides an adrenalising rush, while the quieter moments sustain their hold on the audience at every moment. And if the opening sequence doesn't make you smile - then I imagine you're having a pretty bad day.

A shout-out is deserved too for a clutch of excellent performances. Elgort and James provide a satisfying emotional centre for the film, and they're backed up with sheer class by the rest of the criminal gang. Spacey brings gravity and understated menace to the role of Doc, while Jamie Foxx is both funny and unnerving as aptly-named psychopath Bats. Mad Men's Jon Hamm and Eliza Gonzales round out the group as Buddy and Darling, a couple reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde in their reckless passion. A team to die for, or possibly amongst.

With its lollipop-red sports-cars, visual panache and flashes of violence, Baby Driver is reminiscent of Tarantino, yet ultimately it has more sweetness and a stronger moral compass. It's also a standalone big-budget film in a franchise-heavy summer and deserving of its success. Let its hot soundtrack and carburettor roar thrill you to the bone. 

Ed's Verdict: While it takes its inspiration from car chase movies of old, Baby Driver is so much more. Beneath its chrome exterior is a lot of heart and soul.