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Baby Driver

emopines
Aug 22, 2017
5 min read

What's the title? Baby Driver

Who directed it? Edgar Wright

When was it released? 2017

What’s it rated? Rated R for violence and language throughout

Would I recommend it? Yes. Heartily.

What's it about?(non-spoilers) Baby loves driving cars and listening to music, two things he gets to do working as a getaway driver for a local crime boss. Still, he hates his job, you know, on account of the whole hurting people thing. He can’t wait to get out and start his life fresh, a feeling only compounded when he meets the lovely Debora. But, no matter how fast you drive, can anyone ever really get out?

What did you think? (spoilers) I like Edgar Wright. No, I haven’t seen all the things he’s ever made. No, I don’t adore Scott Pilgrim the way many, many others do. But I’m quite fond of the Cornetto Trilogy, and Hot Fuzz is one of my favorite movies (it’s not necessarily high up the list, but it’s definitely on the list). So, yes, I like Mr. Wright, and, as stated in my Fate of the Furious post, I like fast cars and movies about fast cars on a pure and superficial level. So, imagine my reaction when I heard that Edgar Wright was making a movie about a getaway driver. (Hint: it looked something like this)

Baby Driver deserves the hype. It is good fun. It’s also annoyingly well done. I spent my time in the theater wondering how does a person’s mind even work that way? Much has been made of the action, including the driving which syncs up with the lyrics of the many, many songs played throughout the movie, and, yes, that’s incredible, but, beyond that, the kind of action that is being shown is just mind-blowing. I’ve appreciated Wright’s kinetic visual direction in the past, and that hallmark is certainly on display in Baby Driver. The car scenes are shot like dance choreography. Beyond the technical aspects, the story, characters, and plot are also brilliantly crafted. For instance, I loved how the discovery of the tapes led to the reveal that Baby did know Debora and the tapes also served as a compelling reason for Baby to go back to Doc. That is such tight plotting.

I’ve heard people referring to Baby Driver as a kind of modern folktale. The story, while well crafted, isn’t necessarily complex, but I think this perception is a result of the characters, who, while vivid and (mostly) compelling are largely archetypal. This isn’t necessarily great for our female characters because historically the archetypes reserved for ladies are – well, not great. And sure, you’ve got a Madonna/Whore situation going on with Debora and Darling, and, yes, they are probably the least interesting characters in the film, but they weren’t bad. And let’s be honest, you don’t go into an Edgar Wright film looking for complex, fully fleshed female characters. He’s got a lot of strengths – that is not one of them. While the ladies leave something to be desired (to be clear, they aren’t bad, they just aren’t great), the boys do a fine job in the character department.

I think Kevin Spacey is brilliant anyway, and his turn as Doc did nothing to change my mind. He’s competent and intimidating and kept surprising me all the way to the end. Jamie Foxx terrified the ever-loving moussaka out of me as Bats. My body had a visceral fight or flight response every time he showed up on screen, a sensation I haven’t experienced since J.K. Simmons in Whiplash. John Hamm gives a great performance over the course of Buddy’s compelling journey. (Sidenote, I wonder if I would’ve called Buddy’s ascension to Big Bad if the trailers hadn’t spoiled it for me. It’s obvious when you know it's coming, but going in blind perhaps the clues would’ve gone over my head. Oh, well. We’ll never know.) And then there’s Ansel Egort as the titular Baby.

From the tone of the trailers, I thought that Baby was going to be another cool guy in a film brimming with cool guys. I was pleasantly surprised when Baby turns out to be a major geek. He’s a music geek and a gearhead. Now, I don’t know much about cars and even less about music, but I get geekdom, and that was my angle into the character. I could follow this everyman's journey, even if they hadn’t sympathized him up by having him act as caretaker for his deaf & crippled guardian, Joseph, played beautifully by CJ Jones (who’s a really cool guy that you should totally look up). That said, while I could follow Baby’s journey well enough, I understand why others couldn’t.

Rarely is the protagonist of a story my favorite character. Most times I don’t even like the main dude (and yes, it’s almost always a dude), but I put up with him and follow his story because it allows me to hang out with all the side characters that I like so much more. (When I watch movies I often have thoughts along the lines of “Luke’s great and all, but look at Leia go” or “Frodo needs to move out of the way - he’s blocking Sam.”) So long as I don’t actively loathe the main guy, I’m fine. And I didn’t loathe Baby. I didn’t particularly love him, but I never expected to. Audience response to Baby seems to have been either love, thinking he’s a cooler, taller version of the nerd the audience is inside, or revulsion at being forced to subject themselves to assumed empathy for a privileged guy who ultimately gets rewarded for things that no other demographic would ever get away with. I find the first reaction unsurprising and the latter a valid interpretation. My ultimate interpretation, from my limited and subjective experience, is, “he’s fine.”

You know who was better than fine? Jon Bernthal’s Griff who was in the movie for all of five minutes. And yes, people have made much of the “if you don’t see me again, I’ll be dead” joke, but you know what? I don’t want a great joke. I want more Jon Bernthal in this movie. He’s been in all the trailers, he get's a firm introduction in the opening of the film. I had an expectation going into this film, and that expectation was not met, and I am bitter.

But then again maybe I'm just a generally bitter person, considering that my final critique of the movie is how these hardened criminals seemed to melt when confronted with "young love." Is this a thing? Do people feel this way? Because all I'm saying is if some young kid messed up my livelihood and then came asking for my help, I would not acquiesce just because he made googly-eyes at his paramour. I would not jeopardize my business, much less RISK MY LIFE, because two children decided to get their Romeo and Juliet on. I would think the proper response would be to turn my hose on them and yell at them to get off my lawn. But maybe that's just me.

Is Baby Driver a perfect movie? No. Do I care? Not nearly. This movie was a blast, and I would happily go see this movie again and again. In fact, if we could make automotive musicals a new cinematic genre, that’d be great. But if not, I can just watch this scene on repeat until the DVD comes out.