Baby Driver

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Edgar Wright may be my favourite director, but there's definitely a part of me that realizes he's also a bit of an acquired taste - especially with off-the-wall movies like 'The World's End' and 'Scott Pilgrim'. That's why, when introducing people to Edgar Wright, there tends to be two movies I feel bridge the gap very nicely between what a general audience likes, and what Edgar Wright fans look for - 'Hot Fuzz', and the more recent 'Baby Driver'.

This one tells of a getaway driver, going by the name "Baby" (Ansel Elgort). As a child, he was in a terrible car accident, leaving his parents dead, and him with tinnitus. He now finds that music centers him better than anything else, and he uses it in his day-to-day, which includes his life of crime.

He drives for varying crews for different jobs, all assembled and drawn up by Doc (Kevin Spacey - who was only just "cancelled" when this came out); a criminal mastermind who Baby once tried robbing, stealing a car full of stolen goods. Doc caught him, but was impressed with his driving skills on the getaway, so recruited him for compensation instead of harming him in any way. In the meantime, Baby cares for his deaf foster father, Joseph (CJ Jones), and experiments with music by recording conversation snippets and editing them into music mixes for him to listen to.

One day, at a diner he meets a girl named Deborah (Lily James), whom he soon starts dating, as he plans to quit his life of crime after one final score that pays off his debt. However, Doc shows up to interrupt their first date with the offer of joining a post office heist, threatening to hurt Joseph and Deborah if he refuses. Needless to say, he reluctantly agrees, but soon finds himself in hot water when the next mission with Buddy (Jon Hamm), his wife, Darling (Eiza González) and the trigger-happy Bats (Jamie Foxx) goes awry.

Without unfolding the whole movie, it essentially becomes a matter of Baby wanting to escape his life of crime, and begin a potential life with Deborah, but being held back with threats, as Doc plain and simply needs him for his line of work. It's not entirely original in its overall story, but the way it's executed is unique, and really sets a particular mood for the film. It's another fine example of how well Wright's films are edited, so huge credit to Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss, who have both worked on Wright films.

What's further enjoyable about this is, of course, the soundtrack, featuring quite a lot of catchy stuff by quite a lot of indie artists. It adds to the feeling of everything when you hear certain music along with chase scenes that involve no CG, and don't have that 'F&F' ridiculousness to them. Everything you need to know about this movie is given to you through the opening credits and first few minutes of film. Personally, I find this to be one of Wright's best films for a general audience, as most people I show this to like it, whereas 'Hot Fuzz' can be a bit of a miss with some (often surprisingly). If you haven't seen this, and like a movie with good car chase material and good music, I highly recommend checking it out!

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