Review of Baby Driver (2017) by Damian S — 29 May 2018

Writer and director Edgar Wright, we've read, has directed a heist film that is as much a musical as it is a crime comedy. Well, yes, in as much as the title character, actually named Baby Driver, loves to prepare special mix tapes while dancing , highlighted frequently in this film.

The steps actor Ansel Elgort executes in these scenes are fairly elegant indeed, Astaire like to a degree. Don't let that stir you off, though, as what Wright creates is in keeping with previous work , which is zany, witty, subversive of the genre he's working in, but never so busy with his technical virtuosity that he forgets to bring the fun the audience came for.

Our hero is a fantastically gifted getaway driver indentured to a ruthless crime master .Finding love at last, Baby finds himself attempting some impossible ploys to free himself of teh clutches of his boss so he can go off and find happiness and some kind of normalcy after a life of forced criminal activity.

Not an original premise, but it's merely the starting point for Wright, he subverts the cliches , veers in another direction other than where you expect him, expands and contracts the minimal plot particulars, and keeps matters moving, moving , moving with a quick but sure sense of how to keep the many balls he has in the air from hitting the floor.

Wright also draws fine performances from Jamie Fox, Jon Ham and the ever effusive Kevin Spacey as the harshly ironic crime boss. Expect double, triple and quadruple crosses here as the matters pile on, and expect many a "WTF?" moments and to burst into laughter at unexpected moments.

Baby Driver is an exercise in exhilarating virtuosity.