Baby Driver

Movie, 2017, R

Premise - Baby, B-A-B-Y, Baby, is a professional getaway car driver for Atlanta's most nefarious criminals. But what happens when he wants out of the business, and is in too deep with the worst of the worst crooks?

Review - This has got to be one of the best new movies I've seen in a long time, and definitely one of the best in 2017. Of course, the concept itself is fresh, and the plot strong. It had all sorts of entertaining action and guns and car chases... but thematically it was just so much more important than that, and there was an unexpected amount of emotional depth to the characters. For a criminal, Baby proved to be far more relatable than I had imagined, especially because I also have such a deep love for music. But Baby's love of music goes far beyond mind. He has a psychological dependence on it, and cannot drive effectively if the music is not on the right beat. Actually, generally in life he cannot operate if he does not have the correct soundtrack. Music doesn't just have a psychological benefit for Baby, but a physical one, as the music drowns out the ringing in his ears he got from a car accident when he was a kid. Even just writing this down stuns me how conceptually provocative the story is. Really, I'd say that driving is secondary to the plot. First and foremost, this is a story about the properties of sound, particularly that of rhythm and timing. It's woven into the story, but also into the style of the film. Edgar Wright, the writer and director, had all of the songs written into the script ahead of time, and provided a soundtrack to coincide with reading the script. The lyrics, narrative concepts, musical qualities, and tempo of the songs chosen are all written into the storyline, and of course the scenes are edited to match. It's as though the story was written to the songs, as opposed to the other way around, and I cannot imagine a technique more admirable from someone like me. (96/100)


Quote - "Is he retarded?" "Retarded means slow. Was he slow?" "..........No."

What to watch for - The second scene in the film does something really fascinating where as Baby is walking through the streets, you see the lyrics to the song incorporated into various places, like graffiti on the walls, or on advertisements stapled to the posts. Try to spot as many written lyrics as you can.

If you liked this movie, I'd recommend Scott Pilgrim vs. The World!

Writer/Director: Edgar Wright
Distributors: TriStar, Sony