Baby Driver (2017)

Have you ever wanted to see a movie about a baby who is good at driving? Well, then you are at the WRONG address. Unlike the title suggests the movie is everything but childish but a refreshing fast paced action movie with the just amount of comical relief and amazing use of music.

The movie is written and directed by the Englishman Edgar Wright who is known for directing Hot Fuzz (2007), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), The World’s End (2013) and for writing the movie Ant-Man (2015).

The movie has a strong cast with actors: Jamie Foxx known from movies like Django Unchained (2012), Ray (2004) and Collateral (2004), Jon Hamm best known for the hit show MADMEN (2007-2015), Jon Bernthal known for The Walking Dead (2010-2012), Daredevil as the Punisher (2015) and Fury (2014), Kevin Spacey known for, well he is known for a lot of great movies. But the spotlight in the movie Baby Driver is stolen by the for me unknown actors Ansel Elgort and Lily James.

The movie is about a young man called Baby (Ansel Elgort), who is an excellent driver and uses his skills as the getaway driver for various heist crews. He does this to pay off his large debt to the character Doc, played by Kevin Spacey. Doc is a mastermind heist planner and always uses different teams for the planned heists but insists that Baby is always included, because of his belief that Baby is a lucky charm. This to the dismay of the other criminals who often find Baby weird and untrustworthy, because of Baby’s habit of always listing to music on his iPod and never saying anything. He listens to music while he is driving (during the heists), eating, walking (more dancing than walking) and even during the meeting while the heist teams are planning for the upcoming job.

There are multiple reasons for Baby to listen non-stop to his music, but I won’t go too far into details. What I can say it often results in hilarious scenes of incomprehension and confusion for the other characters. Like the scene when they are just at the moment of starting the heist but Baby yells at them to stop because the timing of the music was wrong. He had to replay the song before they were allowed to continue. I really have to say that the music truly makes the movie. We are listening with Baby to his music and it is a great way of connecting with him and at the same time, it is the soundtrack of the movie.

Eventually Baby meets a lovely waitress (Lily James) and the two fall in love. Under pressure of his legal guardian called Joe who can’t speak, hear, walk and is sick who is actually taken care for by Baby and wanting a better life for his new found love, Baby decides to get out of the heisting world after paying off his debts. Although he is a wonderful getaway driver, he does not belong in the criminal world due to his kind heart which is often rubbed in his face by the other criminals.

One will found out though that leaving the criminal circuit is not easily done.

I did not know what to expect when I was going to the movie. I had not seen any trailer and did not even know the premise of the movie. So I was quite amazed by the opening scene which sets directly the pace and introduction to the movie. I will let you be the judge of it with the video below. All in all, it was a fun movie to watch which gave me a lot of laughs and adrenaline while dreaming of being a bank robber myself (yes I just love a good heist). I can’t stress it enough that the music is wonderfully done in the movie. While watching Baby driver there were two other movies popping up in my head. The movies Reservoir dogs (1992) and Heat (1995). Now by chance, I found out that those two movies were in the top 10 favourite heist movies of the director. You could see the inspiration taken from these movies.

I hope you enjoyed reading the article and give this movie a chance.