Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Baby Driver (2017): Review

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Over the last few weeks i have heard lots of good things about Edgar Wrights new movie Baby Driver. I am very glad to say that this movie held up to the hype and that it was a great movie, with a great screenplay, overall well cast and acted, very stylized, with a great soundtrack, and with only a few things that I didn't like. This movie is worth watching and definitely fills the want for a cool rated R action/ heist movie that keeps you interested throughout.

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Baby Driver is at its core a heist movie set around Baby, played by Ansel Elgort, who has been working for crime boss Doc, played by Kevin Spacey, as a get away driver in order to pay off a debt that Baby owes Doc. He has been acting as a get away driver for a while and is getting close to having his debt paid off. He is brought in for another big heist that has many things going wrong for it and seems destined to fail. He has to work to get himself out of trouble and save Deborah, played by Lily James, the girl he has been falling for. The movie also stars as members of Baby's heist crew: John Hamm as Buddy; Eiza Gonzalez as Darling; and Jamie Foxx as Bats.

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This movie has great cinematography and is beautiful to watch. I love how it is styled and shot and how all the components come together. It could have easily seemed too forced and like it was trying too hard with all of the components having to come together just perfectly without seeming too stuck on itself but it just really worked. I am a sucker for using music to compliment the story and the scenes and this movie does it fantastically without it seeming like it was just a cool soundtrack. Due to Baby being in a car accident as a child he has a ringing in his ears and uses music to drown out the buzz, the music is also a connection between him and the memory of his dead mother. I absolutely love movies with music really incorporated into the story and not just as the background score.

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Usually I don't like it when a movie jumps straight into an action sequence as it can mess with the whole pacing of the movie but with Baby Driver it really works to set everything up. It helps that there is little to no dialogue and it takes the time introducing Baby by focusing on his skills and role as a get away driver. I enjoyed how Baby was introduced as how he slowly becomes more talkative and interactive with the characters around him. He is there and you know he is important, but it takes a while to really understand his motivations and what he is doing. Ansel did a good job as Baby but I am not sure how I feel about him as and up and coming next thing, he did a good job but at times I saw his mannerisms more then Baby's.  He did a good job but was nothing super spectacular.

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The pacing was great and I was kept interested throughout the whole thing, however some of what happened was predictable and there wasn't a whole lot that was surprising in what happened. There was was some development and explorations of Baby's relationships and past and I cared about his situations. I really enjoyed his relationship with his foster father Joseph, played by CJ Jones. His relationship with Debora was a bit speed through but I could see how they would like each other. The ending could have been more interesting but I can understand how the movie went for more overall audience appeal with how it was handled. I didn't really like Jamie Foxx as Bats, he just didn't have the level of crazy that I really would have liked i just saw Jamie Foxx trying to act not becoming the character. I enjoyed everyone else and thought they were well cast. There was also great outside characters who were great, such as Joseph and Doc nephew Samm, played by Brogan Hall.

The only thing that was really distracting was how fast and how many cops showed up during the movie. I understand that it was needed for the plot, but how can so many cops on foot and in cars just randomly be exactly where they are needed. I understand how this was needed for the plot and what was happening but towards the end it was really just way too many cops, way to quickly.

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If you like stylized action movies and a fan of awesome heist movies this is a movie to watch. It had nods to old school heist movies, had a great incorporation of music, and was fun all the way through (although it was highly violent). It is rated R and deserves it for violence so is not for younger viewers.

My Rating: 3

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