FILM REVIEW — BABY DRIVER

The much anticipated summer thrill by Edgar Wright doesn’t fail to deliver but sadly remains a culmination of nuances of films before it with little to really set it apart.
Don’t get me wrong, Baby Driver is probably one of this Summer’s best flicks and has one of the strongest starts I’ve seen in a long time. From minute one you are whisked away with the tone, Wright’s impeccable directing and cinematography coupled with an incredible soundtrack of songs to compliment every scene.
The film starts with a tense heist with the tiniest little unique directorial touches that Wright is so famous for just to make every tiny scene just that much more interesting. We are then taken on a hell of a ride with some of the best stunt-driving seen since Fast5. Just as the foot comes off the pedal, we are then treated with a couple of scenes of musical choreography in an un-cut 3–5 minute long take right out of something you’d expect in La La Land more than a heist action-packed film like Baby Driver. At no point does this feel jarring and complimented with the top notch acting from the stellar cast with the likes of Kevin Spacey, John Hamm (easily my favorite in his role), Jamie Foxx and the debut of the lovely Eiza González, the bases of the film were well covered.
Alas about a good half an hour after the inteoructory set-up is where the hype begins to get misleading. As great as Baby Driver is and as much as Edgar Wright has said that these original ideas of his had spent a significant amount of time being mulled over in his head, it’s too late to stand out. It feels done and more of a compilation of homages in an attempt to be more current than original. Baby Driver struggles to stand apart from its predecessors being Driver meets A Place Beyond the Pines (first third) meets Bonnie and Clyde to the soundtrack idea of Guardians of the Galaxy.
The film repeats the first sequence a couple more times (all with purpose of course) and until the main character’s lowest point before the begin of the film’s climax. At this point one can’t help but feel a lull but this must be hard to avoid considering how strongly the film starts. There comes a point where the soundtrack loses its magic as the music is far too much in the foreground and begins to take away from the gravity of the scenes as opposed to compliment them because this film literally has no film score. There isn’t a backing track to guide the emotional tone of the scenes for the audience and having pop songs of different eras being blasted at moments of euphoria and despair in an almost Tarantino fashion unfortunately doesn’t do justice as a substitute for a proper film score.
With the film’s strong end as it’s saving grace, Baby Driver definitely is a solid, thrilling watch with some incredible directing. Unfortunately I can’t help but feel that it is slightly underserving of it’s hype given it’s inability to shake feeling that for much of the film it was a one-trick pony, but having said that though it is one hell of a trick. — ★★★★☆