It's no secret that I'm a tremendous fan of the works of Edgar Wright. I'm rarely ever not in the mood to watch Shaun of the Dead and I consider Hot Fuzz to be one of the finest comedy films ever made. Even films of his that I'm comparatively lukewarm on like Scott Pilgrim and The World's End are still pretty spectacularly well-constructed films. The man is a true auteur, with a distinct visual style and a real knack for details. I hadn't heard much of Baby Driver leading up to its release, but once I heard that Edgar Wright was at the helm, I knew it was something I would have to check out.
The plot focuses on the titular Baby (Ansel Elgort), a teenage getaway driver who's something of a prodigy behind the wheel. Hoping to get out of the world of organized crime after repaying his debt to an enigmatic kingpin played by Kevin Spacey, Baby finds himself dragged back in for one last big score. While trying to bury his criminal past, he ends up romantically involved with a young waitress named Deborah (Lily James); this complicates matters, as Baby tries to balance both sides of his life while making sure no one he cares about gets caught in the crossfire.
In many ways, this is a by-the-numbers heist story; we've all heard "one last job, and then I'm out" before, but it's that unique Edgar Wright flair that makes this movie stand out among the rest. We learn at one point that Baby was in a deadly car accident as a child; not only did this accident kill his parents, it also cursed him with a chronic case of tinnitus. In order to drown out the ringing, Baby is never without one of several iPods, all jam-packed with classic songs from every genre imaginable. Much like Guardians of the Galaxy, Baby Driver features several sequences choreographed to popular music. That said, it's worth remembering that this is Edgar Wright in the director's chair, so this goes a bit farther than simply playing a pop song during an action scene.
I'm tempted to outright call this a musical, as everything, literally everything, from gunshots to graffiti to the editing itself, is synced in tune to the music. This is the kind of movie you can watch again and again, noticing some new bit of visual artistry each and every time. There's tons of blink-and-you'll-miss-it details and long, unbroken shots, to say nothing of the pulse-pounding car chases. This movie has some of the best car chase sequences I've ever seen, and I say this having watched The Blues Brothers. There's an abundance of practical special effects at work here, lots of tricky camera angles and real stunt drivers working on large, impressive sets. Combined with the sublime cinematography of DoP Bill Pope, Edgar Wright manages to give us something that is the very definition of the phrase "a feast for the eyes". Baby Driver is, technically speaking, a work of art. Which is a shame that the other, more narrative-based elements of the film pale in comparison.
For as good as the film looks, elements such as story and characterization feel a little half-baked; there's nothing out and out bad here, per say, but at some points it can distract from the rest of the film. The romance comes off as very under-written for how much focus it receives; we're supposed to care most of all about Baby and Deborah's relationship, yet they don't really have any reason to be interested in each other. They have fairly good chemistry and they both enjoy music, but that's more or less where their similarities end. They aren't given a chance to grow and develop as a couple before they're both ready to drop everything and drive into the sunset towards mystery and adventure. Deborah in particular is far too forgiving in regards to what she has to endure in the latter half of the film, killing any and all tension as to how their relationship will end up; she's with Baby till the end of the line, even though it's not really explained why.
The story also dips considerably in the middle, struggling to maintain the sheer energy and excitement brought on by the first and final acts. There are also some plot elements that feel more than a little rushed for convenience's sake; this is a movie that keeps a fairly brisk pace, but every now and again something will change just a tad too quickly, to the point that the emotion the filmmakers seem to be going for doesn't feel entirely earned. There's one moment in particular during the climax involving Kevin Spacey's character, Doc, that left me scratching my head. I won't go into it for sake of spoilers, but his sudden shift in character development felt completely out of left field and really took a lot of focus away from what was otherwise an exciting and thoroughly engaging finale.
I think that one definitely has to be in the proper mindset to fully appreciate this movie. Despite its trendy, modern flair, this is a very old-school story in terms of the way the narrative and characters work. The romance is simple, the plot moves quickly, and if you stop to ask questions you're going to miss all the beautiful scenery. Things like half-baked subplots and under-developed characters are problems, yes, but the rest of the movie works so well that it's very easy to overlook these problems, so long as you watch from the proper point of view. True, I didn't really feel anything for the romance between Baby and Deborah. But at the same time, literally everything else about their story and the way it was told commanded my attention. This is a movie that understands that film is very much a visual medium; it favors style over substance, but that doesn't mean there's no substance to be found. By the end of it, I was very much rooting for Baby to make it out okay and I really wanted to see the villains get what was coming to them. This is thanks, not only to the engrossing visual style, but to the stellar performances of everyone headlining the cast, ESPECIALLY Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx. These two completely stole every scene they were in, especially if they happened to be on-screen together.
Baby Driver is not a perfect film, but like most of Edgar Wright's work, it's close enough. There wasn't a moment during this movie that I wasn't enjoying myself and this is definitely the kind of thing you want to see in a movie theater. Not just because it's very visually engaging, not just because it's a blast with a good sound system, but because, at this point in 2017, Baby Driver is literally the only movie I've seen in theaters that wasn't a superhero film, sequel, reboot, or remake. It's an entirely original, standalone R-rated film with more love and care than the vast majority of summertime releases, and that's definitely something worth supporting.
No comments:
Post a Comment