Yes, B-A-B-Y, Baby it is! That’s what a young driver and a music junkie, played by Ansel Eglort is called, or at least that’s what he prefers being called. Baby Driver plays out as a romantic musical disguised in car chase thrills. At first, Baby might seem like a boy-next-door until he gets behind the wheels and makes tracks through heavy mid-day traffic in a getaway car chase. When not busy saving the day, Baby is in a complete mood, gliding through the streets hooked to his iPod. Apparently, he has different iPods for different days and moods. Baby orchestrates his real-life sequences with these handpicked iPods playlists. Be it getting away from a heist scene or putting butter on the bread. Baby has a perfect track for the occasion. He has a weird obsession with making remixes from real-life conversations using his setup of musical gizmos. The many dimensions of Baby’s personality unfold throughout the movie. It keeps you glued to know more about his mysterious personality and detrimental past.
Baby was in a car accident as a kid who left him with a ringing in his ears. To cope, he uses music to block out the humming. He lives with his disabled foster-father(played by CJ Jones). In short, a fleeting fling with crime at a small age followed by an obnoxious encounter with Doc, a criminal mastermind, forced Baby into the world of crime. He’s referred to as the devil behind the wheel by Doc and works as his driver to flee out of the heist scenes. He is almost done. With one more job for Doc, he’ll be on the way to lead a normal life. Meanwhile, Baby meets a lovely girl named Debora (Lily James), and it seems to him like a chance to get straight. But life has other plans. That’s all you need to know about the plot before you catch this film. Directed by Edgar Wright(as his Wikipedia Page says, “known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical genre films”), the movie casts the likes of Jaime Fox, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, and Kevin Spacey. While Elgort is more than convincing as a kind-hearted protagonist, Cinderella fame James does full justice to the role of Debora, a waitress Baby meets at a local dinner and instantly bonds over the shared interest of music. Spacey makes a terrific crime boss with layers to his personality that unveil throughout the movie in terms of supporting cast. Foxx is particularly remarkable as Bats, who proudly calls himself the ‘mental’ of the group. His character is both hilarious and packed with smoldering danger. His sidekicks include Flea as Eddie ‘No Nose,’ Lanny Joon as JD, who bring levity to some grave heist scenes. Eiza González(Darling) and Hamm(Buddy) play a power gangster couple who bring some cliched humor in the room filled with guns and ammo. The dynamic of the characters span out perfectly to infuse some dark comedy and satire into the atmosphere.
If you have even remotely liked the musical backdrop of ‘La La Land,’ you will surely love Baby Driver for a greater reason. It brings together on the stage- action, thriller, romance, and comedy in the form of an audio-visual treat. Groovy musicals smoothing along with getaway-driving scenes and fairly serious heists make them rather fun and thrilling. The remarkable opening scene kicks in the fuel for the wild but elegant action to follow. Action sequences are perfectly backed by soundtracks, keep the thrill going up and down with the beats. Not only the action scenes but Baby’s on-foot coffee run, where he glides smoothly through the busy city streets, is both artistic and dramatic. Meticulously detailed moments weave together the characters and their personalities. It’s one of those movies where you forget that it’s a film and start taking the characters for what they play. There are warm musical moments in between that will take you to see different sides of Baby. Some scenes will make your heart race, while others will make it melt. The romantic storyline between Baby and Debora blossoms out at a natural pace making it a stirring affair to witness. With small chats at the dinner, hanging out at the laundromat followed by a romantic dinner makes us root for them. There’s a perfect balance of action and emotion which makes this movie very wholesome. Each musical piece is beautifully handpicked to sync with the tone of the situations and characters. You’ll find such shreds of evidence of attention-to-details throughout the running time of the movie. By the time you’re done with the movie, you’ll have some new tracks to add to your playlist.
There are fewer downsides to the movie except for some predictable and typical crime instances. It seems like a mixed bag of criminal cliches of all time. Some scenes are less-than-realistic and throw the touch of reality out of the window. The movie could be a little disappointing for the car freaks out there. As much as it may sound like a car cult film, you don’t really see an array of astonishing cars. But it does blow you away with its wide range of action-packed musical heists, aka driving sequences. Another downside of the movie is the absence of independent female characters in the plot. You see exactly two female characters who never spark to each other. Both of their lives revolve completely around their male better halves.
Baby Driver is gripping all the time with some thought-provoking scenes and aspects. The soundtracks, cinematography, editing, and conviction that the cast brings into the characters make the movie a must-watch. Even the anti-hero actions of Baby won’t stop you from shipping him for the softer and kinder side he has. To sum up, it is entertaining, it’s fun, and it’s fast. A good watch if you’re looking for something easy and breezy. You don’t see films like this often!