Baby Driver

When it comes it directors with a unique styles, Edgar Wright is one of the great standouts with his own works (despite not having a sizable filmography). Instead of bringing something dull and pointless you would expect from Hollywood complacency (such as Disney, Sony, Illumination and Dreamworks), he takes a genre people are familiar with and elevates it with stylized action that's necessary for the environment at hand, witty dialogue from the characters, likable characters you enjoy seeing interact with the chaos at hand, and creating a mood that brings in audiences to the world at hand. My experience with Edgar's work includes Scott Pilgrim vs the World and The Three Flavors Cornetto trilogy (aka Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End), with my favorite being Hot Fuzz. However, during his time working with Marvel on Ant-Man, disputes between him and the studio in regards to the direction of the script (one side leaning towards a standalone Edgar Wright movie vs a Marvel movie within the MCU) resulted in him leaving Ant-Man with the divorce leaving the latter with the formers original script to insert the story more into their universe. Ever since that fiasco, he has been under the radar for a period of time...until this past year. For the past few months, trailers have popped up for his recent action movie, Baby Driver, which showed some sampling of the premise, actions, and the character types involved. It excited me seeing Edgar getting new movie projects going and the positive feedback from the critics boosted my anticipation even further. I entered the theater ready for the movie and left it feeling great satisfaction knowing that not only did I have a good time with it but that Edgar Wright has added another great classic to his collection.

(Fun fact: When I went to watch it at the Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco and before the previews started, there was an interview playing on screen where Edgar Wright was talking about his list of favorite movie topics regarding cars such as Top 5 car crashes and Top 5 car chases.)

Plot: The story follows a getaway driver working to payoff a debt to a kingpin and the chaos he encounters after attempting to leave that life behind for a fresh start once the payment is met. While on the surface the plot isn't anything new or original, it feels fresh in how the story is visually told in the style choices the film goes for. It uses the desires and motivations of its characters brought up throughout the plot, resulting in their interactions with the circumstances in the second half. There are some nice twists involved revolving more around those characters that affect the troubles that are rising against them. The action and car chase sequences are very well done while being fairly spread out to let the characters and audience members take a breather and share a laugh with the characters witty dialog. The best way to describe some of the action pieces involves following Captain Cold's four rules from the CW Arrowverse: "Make the plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan to go off the rails. Throw away the plan." There is a soundtrack that adds a unique standout feature similar to Guardians of the Galaxy but it's more important here in regards to the nature of the main protagonist and, in a funny way, it almost feels like an action movie version of La La Land except minus actual singing and involving car chases. Overall while the story can get predictable and isn't anything new, the manner in which it's told via character interactions and the unique visual style accompanied by the soundtrack makes the experience feel like a fresh action movie that deserves to be seen.

Characters: The characters to focus on are Baby (Ansel Elgort), Doc (Kevin Spacey), Buddy (Jon Hamm), and Bats (Jamie Foxx). Baby is our main protagonist with a talent as a getaway driver and a music lover afflicted with tinnitus from a tragic backstory who strives for a fresh start with Debora after settling his debt with Doc. Ansel Elgort does a great job in channeling his energy in regards to reacting to the right emotional angles of the situation at hand. He knows where to have fun in his charisma for the happier moments and where to be seriously alert as well as determined to make it through the dangerous encounters he comes across throughout the movie. Doc is a mysterious criminal mastermind kingpin Baby serves as a getaway driver for and is a brilliant strategist. Kevin gives a great performance in his intimidating presence while being one of the actors having a fun time in this role. Buddy is one of the criminals in Doc's crew with his own past and motivations while spending time with his partner in crime wife. Jon Hamm is fantastic in this role and one of the great standout performances to keep an eye on based on how he interacts with the members in Doc's crew during their heists and the route his character takes. Bats is another criminal in the heist group with a trigger happy impulse attitude. Jamie is another standout performance for having so much fun being intimidating to his group members and not being shy in letting his temper loose on those who cross him or those he's suspicious of. An honorable mention goes to Debora (Lily James) for the performance she gives as Baby's love interest and the nice likable chemistry both actors have with each other, though the romance part of it could have been written better (but it's not that much of a nitpick considering the performances both actors give in that regard). There are details about a few of these characters that I'm omitting because the twists and turns in regards to them shape the movie from something standard to an energized fascinating action heist movie that stands out on its own for all of the right reasons. One important thing to keep an eye is the contrast between Baby's innocence and the darkness of Bats, Doc, and Buddy. Overall the actors are having fun in their great performances and their characters are fascinating to watch their drive and motivations dictate the reasons behind the actions they take as the chaos of their bank heist escalates.

Overall Consensus: Baby Driver is a great action movie experience strengthened by Edgar Wright's witty dialog, the interactions between charismatic actors, awesome car chase sequences, and unique musical style with the storytelling at hand. ⭑⭑⭑⭑1/2🍿

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You like action heist movies with a unique energetic style and focus on the getaway driver as the main protagonist. You like watching movies that have great car chases involved. You like Edgar Wright and his movies. You want to see how the soundtrack plays throughout the movie and the role it plays in regards to the main protagonist. You like movies with witty dialog and a great sense of humor from the character interactions. You want to take a break from bland blockbusters like Transformers 5 as well as Cars 3 and want to see one of the best action heist movies in a long while.

Reasons to avoid it: You don't like any of the aforementioned actors. You don't like action heist movies. You don't like movies with great car chases. You don't like Edgar Wright and his movies. You aren't interested in musical stylized movies.

Coming up next: With Jam-packed June nearing the end with three movies, it's been an enjoyable experience with two great superhero movies and a fantastic action heist movie. But now it's time to enter a genre I have yet to enter in a long time (excluding La La Land): the romantic comedy. Next time on Jam-packed June, before the blockbusters of July settle in, I will watch and review the newest romantic comedy, The Big Sick (technically it will be in July when the review will be post but since I intend to watch it tomorrow I'm counting it as part of my June line up).