While watching an Edgar Wright film, one can’t help but feel ‘schooled’. A master of style and technique, Wright’s genre aesthetic shines in everything from the camera movement and frame transition to dialogue and the background score.
In the British director’s latest American outing, Baby Driver, we see him combine the quirks and indie sensibilities of his 2010 film, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, with the heart-thumping action, physical humour and heart of his Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, to fashion something altogether new — a romantic-heist-thriller set to the tune of a musical.
It’s all very overwhelming when we put it like that, and it’s all the more overwhelming when you’re actually in the theatre. Gun shots are timed to beat drops; a deceptively simple dialogue-heavy scene is set in a laundromat with colour-coded clothes whirring silently in the machines; the lyrics of a background song magically show up on walls; and even the extras walking by in a busy street scene look like they’ve been thoroughly choreographed.
And it’s exactly this painstaking attention-to-detail that makes Baby Driver tick; that and the film’s shiny soundtrack, omnipresent through the length of the movie.
Baby Driver tells the story of Baby (Ansel Elgort of The Fault in our Stars fame), a gifted getaway driver caught up in the big bad world of heists, because he was once caught stealing criminal mastermind Doc’s (Kevin Spacey) car. He meets-cute with a radiant but bored waitress (Lily James from Downton Abbey) and now he dreams of breaking away from the rough life and his rougher crew (Jon Hamm, Eiza Gonzalez and Jamie Foxx) and driving into the sunset, a romantic background score in tow. Obviously, this is easier said than done, and things go south very, very quickly.
The deliberate fast pace of the film blinds the viewer from the paper-thin plot of the film, easily come undone under closer scrutiny. But we’re not really here for the plot, are we? Fast cars, a slick and sexy soundtrack, and a dazzling presentation of directing chops provide ample visual nutrition to a world that’s sensitised to big theatrics, a la superhero franchises. Through the magic of Baby Driver, Wright makes a strong argument for original stand-alone films, and hopefully there’s more from where this movie came from.
Everything considered, Baby Driver is definitely more than the sum of its star power. That said, the cast is more than up for the task of carrying out Wright’s vision. Elgort wears Baby’s personality like a second skin, almost as if he’s desperately trying to shed the boy-ness of his YA days, and it works. Baby-face aside, Elgort proves that he has what it takes to lead a grown-up film.
James is luminous, but as far as personality is concerned, it looks like Wright drew her character up short. But as along as she’s got that 1,000-watt smile and dewy, glowing skin, not many people are complaining.
Hamm, Casey and Foxx did what they do best: dominate their respective scenes with their characteristic charisma. All of them brought their 100 per cent and more, but I’m not very sure where Wright was trying to take these characters.
Especially in the second half, things start to come apart a little too quickly. For example, closer to the climax, Casey’s mob head character does such a 360 degree spin on himself, we’re left scratching our heads for a while.
I won’t ask you to leave your brains at home but a little suspension of disbelief will go a long way in helping you enjoy this spectacle of a movie, lovingly created by the greatest fanboy of them all. Get your seat belts ready for this one!
Don’t miss it!
Baby Driver releases in UAE cinemas on July 20.
