Baby Driver

I was able to watch Baby Driver during an advanced screening last week and and yes it's as amazing as the critics say it is. The way it uses the music is just so great. It's so different from all the other movies, but it isn't artsy in a way that only the critics will like it: this is a movie for everyone. I went with a friend who is really hard to please when it comes to movies, but I just knew he would love this. And I was right, I never saw him as excited about a movie as he was about this one. It's just so much fun to watch, but it's also serious when it needs to be and it has very intriguing characters. But I'll be honest, the core of the movie is its music. I think this is the second time I say it, but the music works so well. If I wasn't in the theaters I would sing with the songs. Even though it's completely different, it reminds me a bit of Fury Road in the way that it makes you want to punch your fist and the air and cheer during the movie. In reality I think it's more a mixture of La La Land and Grand Theft Auto (it's definitely not a musical by the way). Go see this movie. I don't want to overhype anyone, but I'll make a bold statement and say this is my favorite Edgar Wright movie. I'll be shocked if this doesn't appear on many 'Best of the Year' lists in December, at least I already know it'll be on mine.

However Edgar Wright is a director that seems to get more immature as opposed to maturing with his audience as his films go on.

Baby Driver, a film idea that was, no doubt, pulled from a drawer of high concept, high-school ideas from Mr. Wright, has that sort of aged 90's Tarantino vibe, from the musical OTT dialogue, attention to soundtrack, and the Natural Born Killers style star-crossed main characters. Unfortunately that makes the idea very dated and the promise of a musical car-chase movie a bit of misdirection. It's more of a 90's gangster film with a painful hipster hand guiding it, interspersed with music videos made of car chases.

There's some humour, neat little ideas, satisfying and creative moments, but they're unpleasantly jammed in to a a few moulds that don't do some of the core concepts justice. Lily James is a delight but her character is shortchanged, the idea of replacing core characters for each job is nonsensical probably to get rid of actors to other commitments. And the less said about the two dimensional Darling and Kevin Spacey the better.

I somehow felt love and hate sort of feeling for Baby Driver. The movie started off on nice note but then somehow slows down and eventually picks up too much pace in second half. It's pretty hard to keep the interest alive all the time. I really loved the song selection and even noticed me nodding to few beats as well. The car action sequence were well shot too. But then the second half of the movie was so fast that it feels like they just wanted to end this but still wanted to keep it alive. Don't think if there was any need of few gruesome sequences.

The story had so much potential and having some good cast along, it could have gone to great heights. But it disappoints in this area and turns out to be just another mindless action drama for light viewing.

There is never a dull moment in this action crime film about a getaway driver who has his own unlimited getaway soundtrack but who also wants to break free from the crime boss who owns his life.

There is enough style and visceral strut in this film that it neutralizes the one or two credibility gaps in the plot. Ansel Elgort is great as the title character, but Jamie Foxx steals the film with a lively performance as the loose cannon in the crew. Performances all around are solid and the dialogue is so rife with dueling wits, it's like watching a recurring display of verbal fireworks. These firecracker scenes of competitive criminals showing off their bravado are just as exciting as the chase scenes through downtown Atlanta.

The film also banks heavily on a heady, omnipresent soundtrack that keeps the tempo perpetually hyperactive. A word of caution: The action can be tough going at times; the film revels in its permanent state of anarchy before ultimately developing a mean streak. But for all the blistering gunfire and screeching tires, this is not a one-note film. It has its moments of quietly boiling tension and eerie backstory flashbacks. It's a film that wears its attitude on its sleeve and doesn't shrivel into conventionality. Not an absolute bull's eye, but recommended to everyone who wants a good rush.

I read an early tweet that described Baby Driver as 'a mix-tape with a film attached to it' and that proved to be an accurate comment. The tweeter may have thought this was a good thing, but I certainly don't.

Yes, there are some good tracks and the action sequences are elaborate and frenetic (a little too frenetic, actually), but the characters are dull, unlikeable and bear very little relation to the real world. I simply did not believe in them, especially Darling, the sassy, kick ass stock character that only a fool would consider to be a strong female character.

Then there's Baby, whose laconic, boyish demeanour makes him a rather uninspiring protagonist. His romance with Debbie, a cute little waitress, is yawn-inducingly clichéd, too.

If you want a stylish heist film that isn't so bloody try-hard, then watch Drive. It's an exercise of style over substance much like this film, but it has suspense, atmosphere and characters that could actually exist rather than blaring music, mind-numbing action and flat, hateful comic book characters.