Baby Driver (2017) Review

“I moved”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

I think the most intense part in life is making sure you take the chance to fight for what you want, whether it’s love freedom or even both.

PLOT


Baby Driver follows Miles aka Baby who grew up suffering from tinnitus after surviving a car accident that killed his parents. He grew up under the care of his deaf foster dad Joe, but when not having a catharsis for music, he once stole illicit goods from a kingpin named Doc and now must pay off his debt as his getaway driver. The story’s present follows Baby at the end of completing his debt, hoping to be free of working for Doc again. One day, he goes to his favorite restaurant, Bo’s Diner, falls for a waitress named Debora and gets along with her off of shared taste in music. On his next heist, he is paired with various criminals: ‘Eddie No Nose’ (Flea), JD (Lanny Joon) and Leon aka Bats. They barely succeed because not only did they avoid being stopped by an armed bystander, but JD is later executed for leaving his firearm behind. After this heist does Baby try to make an honest living by delivering pizzas and moving forward in officially dating Debora. Happiness doesn’t last though when Doc expects him to continue working for him on the next heist and threatens to hurt him if he doesn’t comply. This forces him to halt things with Debora until he can figure a way out of it. This time, he’s not only paired with Bats again who already doesn’t like him for getting in his way of shooting the bystander, but the coupled pair of Jason & Monica aka Buddy & Darling, who worked with him before too and actually take a liking to him for being good at his job. The group is assembled to rob a post office that carries money orders and Doc sends them to pick up firearms for them from a contact dubbed The Butcher (Paul Williams). That goes terrible when Bats recognizes Butcher’s crew to be undercover cops, deciding to shoot them down. Bats then tells Baby to pull over and eat at Bo’s Diner. He tries avoiding this, but Bats forces him to do so. At the time, Baby is still able to keep his cover when stopping Bats from impulsively shooting Debora. When returning to the hideout, Doc would be livid that Bats killed the cops that were actually on his payroll. With that happening, he considers bailing on the heist until the group including Baby prefer going through with it. Baby tries sneaking out to run away with Debora, but Buddy catches him leaving and Bats finds out he recorded his conversation with Doc assuming he’s an informant. He tries pleading his case that he remixes his conversations, but they don’t believe him until they break into his home and steal all his personal tapes, assaulting Joe in the process. When Doc plays the tape of Debora, the group would be livid that he lied of knowing her. Doc considers replacing him with another driver at the last minute, but Baby assures he’s still the best driver for the job and Debora knows nothing. On the day of the heist, it gets worse when a bank teller recognizes him and Bats kills a security guard. When demanding him to get going, he calls him a retard and smacks him with his gun, threatening to shoot him if he doesn’t. Finally at his breaking point, Baby kills Bats by ramming him into rebar. Buddy & Darling try confronting him for his betrayal, but they have to shoot their way out of their situation when the cops show up and Baby makes a run for it. The couple do catch up to him as they try escaping as well, but Darling gets shot down by the cops. Angry and heartbroken, Buddy uses his loss as motivation to further escape. Baby picks up Joe and takes him to a retirement home before heading to Debora, only to see Buddy got there first. With no choice, he shoots him before police reinforcements swarm the restaurant. He then goes to Doc for help and he is predictably too upset to bother. But out of pity, he gives him enough money to get out of the country and allows him to take one tape, in which he picks the one that has his mom’s voice. Doc does stand tall when defending himself from the Butcher’s remaining henchmen who want vengeance, but he doesn’t survive getting ran over by Buddy. He chases Baby all over the parking garage and ends up temporarily deafening him when shooting at his ears, but this gives the chance for Debora to intervene with a crowbar. Baby would then shoot at his leg, causing him to fall to his death. He and Debora would try to keep running away, but the former surrenders when encountering a roadblock by the cops. Despite Debora and Joe testifying as character witnesses, the judge still sentences him to 25 years with a parole hearing after five. The film would then end with Baby reuniting with the love of his life who kept in touch during incarceration.


THOUGHTS


It was a matter of time for Edgar Wright to set a movie in the United States as his previous films were Non American based at that point. So it goes without saying that this one fits into the mold of what we’re expecting from him. There is so much style within the runtime that it redefines what style is. The editing for all the car chases are so well done by Jonathan Amos & Paul Machliss that it beats the Fast & Furious sequels from the 2010s with ease on authenticity alone. Much like Scott Pilgrim vs the World, the jukebox soundtrack goes so into tone with the story at hand. You even can’t help be stunned with how the beat goes with other sound effects within the scene. Bill Pope’s cinematography kicks in so hard as well when the focus is on Baby whether he’s walking around or in the run of his life. The comedy is even pretty strong for a movie full of excitement because a simple moment like confusing Canadian actor Mike Myers with fictional slasher Michael Myers is too good of a mishap to ignore. Then it gets better with a bystander shouting ‘what the fuck’ when Baby returns her purse after stealing her car, Doc’s nephew Sammi being quietly in on the world of crime when giving Baby notes on what tell his uncle after scouting the post office or him getting annoyed of being fed Monsters Inc quotes to believe he can be trusted. When it comes down to it, this movie is able to stand out on its own because all the mayhem that ensued teaches viewers that in the gray areas of good & bad, the best way to seek redemption is to take responsibility for whatever consequences. This is the case for Baby because he never intended to get into the life of crime but after losing his parents at a young age, he didn’t know what he wanted until he got older. Ansel Elgort gives an all timer of a performance because you relate to the confidence he has in his abilities and only squeamish with what he avoids, which in his case is actual violence that his partners don’t hesitate inflicting. Deep down, he just wanted to be happy and he was unknowingly looking for that through Debora. Lily James steals our hearts as a lady who wants to escape the mundane and dream for more. She may not know of Baby’s baggage, but she was into him and he felt the same because apart from the music, they both relate of the eagerness in change. Had she not entered his life by singing his name, he would’ve not pushed himself to want out more than he already did, apart from the genuine support CJ Jones showed as Joe. While Baby got around to being where he wanted to be, it took much longer dealing with people who were far from sharing the same ideals as him. For those behind on the times, this would be the last mainstream time we’ll get from Kevin Spacey after the MeToo movement exposed his behavior off camera. Ironically, his last movie was Billionaire Boys Club that also starred Elgort the following year. It also did feel like Spacey left on the oddest of high notes since he still an impressive as Doc. This is one of his more complex roles because while mostly cunning and meticulous, he’s got his own way to affectionate with Baby. He admitted he was impressed of his skills as a driver and couldn’t help taking him under his wing rather than kill him easily. It really was pitiful that allowed him to help Baby at the end because he also admitted he knows what it’s like to be in love. While he didn’t plan on dying the way he did, it’s a certainty he’s proud of choosing to do good for someone just once. Sadly, he was the least of Baby’s problems since there were a handful of imposing figures that still gave a run for the money. You want to hate on Jon Bernthal making Griff most skeptical towards Baby’s mindset until he chooses to big advice that he’ll have to make unforgivable choices at some point. Having said that, it was really Bats that gets under skin the most because Jamie Foxx is able to make him straight up most unhinged since he’s willing to shoot his way out of paying a bill rather than cough a buck. Because he chooses to shoot first and think later, it’s easy to see why Baby doesn’t like him. So when he finally kills him the way he does, you actually get a breath of relief. Then you realize the last threat he has to deal with is the dark opposite of himself and Debora. In a crazy way, it does feel like Buddy and Darling are just that because Jon Hamm does come off caring for a bit and shares taste in music for the sake of being on the same page. The real difference is that he will become relentless when he loses everything. Eiza Gonzalez was indeed his escape as Darling because she was at his level in being wild for fun since she actually wanted Bats to die for looking at her. Baby does the right thing killing him not just off of protecting his escape, but more into eliminating his potential future since he became who he is to cope with his poor habits. If he kept running, he wouldn’t be any different from him and he could’ve abandoned Joe by not looking back. With such a cost, Baby does becomes free from trouble and can move forward happy again. Should we see him again in a potential sequel, I’m sure he’ll still stay true to himself against whatever else comes his way. This movie will remain timeless to me, but even great stuff like this have moments I was scratching my head about upon rewatching. For starters, does Baby’s fingerprints ever get picked up on when he leaves cars behind like he does in the opening heist? He’s got no gloves until Doc gives him a pair and he discards it, assuming the relationship was over. If anything, Doc should’ve given him a pair way before this. And I did laugh with the mask confusion, but Doc should’ve bought the masks himself if he didn’t want anyone in the crew to mess up a simple task. And if JD was so clumsy, how did Doc even trust him to begin with? If he was betting on having him killed to further cover up his tracks, that should’ve been more clear. It’s also risky for him to mix and match past crew members because no matter how good they are at what they do, if the whole point is to not use the same crew twice. Baby may always be his exception, but bringing back his latest of colleagues of Bats, Buddy & Darling was bound to be playing with fire. He also messes up not telling the crew the cops they killed were on his payroll, before going through the intended transaction. And how-come Baby doesn’t look into other jobs before delivering pizzas? If he doesn’t want to drive for anyone anymore, he should’ve been looking for jobs where driving is not required. I could almost complain Baby messes up listening to the recorder in the same building his last crew is in, but the icing on the cake goes to not keeping it close, which gives Bats the opportunity to pickpocket it however he was able to. Moving on, it is one thing to call Bats a psychopath when he killed a convenience store clerk to steal some gum, but it’s dumb of him to do so without a mask to avoid cameras. If he’s in the system, he’s asking to get caught. Other than that, this movie still rocks. In conclusion, Baby Driver is part of 2017’s elite films for just having a new form of exhilaration you seek in crime heist films. If those kind of movies are your jam, see this now.