Review of Baby Driver (2017) by Scoutulambo — 28 Jun 2017

The editing throughout the movie is tight. The one-r toward the beginning was especially well directed. Wright's timing from his earlier comedies still shows throughout the film, adding to both the comedy and the intensity of the action throughout. Sound was well handled in the film, with Wright taking advantage of the standard surround sound and playing soundtrack and environmental elements as if the viewer shares the same ears as the main character. Toward the end, there's a moment when the audience is violently reminded they share the same ears as Baby, so the next couple scenes are more immersive than normal. Wright has a number of call-backs to his earlier films, notably a comedic story technique used at the beginning of Shaun of the Dead and a couple spoofs of Michael Bay shots he'd previously used in Hot Fuzz.

Timing was everything in this movie and that every scene had its own unique beat was interesting. This movie did blatant soundtrack usage correctly, which is rare today.

The color grading of the film is different depending on the tone of each scene and who's in it, which is pretty refreshing. There's a specific character who, whenever they're on screen alone with Baby, the color grading goes to the same one used in Baby's flashbacks but without a filter over it, which was strong visual story telling. This carried over into how ideas are established throughout the film, especially toward the climax, where there's a scene where a minor character's dialogue and letters on a box tell a story, one of the characters tells the story they got from those elements, and finally another character subverts audience expectations based on that story.

The story itself follows a familiar path, but it follows it due to the personality traits of each character and the conflicts which arise between them. Spacey and James' characters represent character motivations and pressures for Baby which parallel his parents (not a spoiler), Jon Hamm's character is a perfect counterpart and foil to Baby which pushes him to make choices which reveal what he cares about most, his caretaker is a catalyst for change in his character and his realization of his true character motivations, and Foxx's character is a lesser foil which forces Baby into the situation which will eventually require him to make the choices he makes in the face of Jon Hamm's character.

The film has a somewhat typical but tight and well written plot, impressive stage direction (especially on the one-r), imaginative and immersive use of sound, characters who matter and the four most important of these characters undergo believable character arcs (the others are used to facilitate these arcs or give evidence of each characters true nature), and the editing is the best I've seen in a long time. Some of the driving in the film can get confusing on some of the faster paced chase scenes, but all of the driving sequences are exciting at the least and the film isn't actually about driving so much as it is about someone who, by happenstance, is forced into the position of driving. Every chase scene has some unique situation or stunt and the film feels much shorter than its 113 minute run time.

Probably the most solid action film I've seen in years and a great date movie if both of you are okay with violence in film.