Written by James Reilly – Student Pages Entertainment Journalist/Film Critic
Film Rating:
★★★★★
Baby Driver (2017), directed by Edgar Wright, is about a young getaway driver nicknamed ‘Baby’, played by Ansel Elgort, who has to do one last job doomed to fail by heist boss ‘Doc’, played by Kevin Spacey. Along the way he falls in love with Debora, played by Lilly James, and makes interesting relationships with fellow heist members such as Jamie Foxx’s ‘Bats’ and Jon Hamm’s ‘Buddy’. The film follows a string of high critical, if not financial, success for Wright (with Hot Fuzz being one of my favourite films of all time) so could he continue his run of good form, or will his first American filmed feature break his duck.
The film is a masterpiece. From the soundtrack, to some incredible action set pieces and visuals, this film has a style to it that runs through its bones. Its soundtrack is going to be a lot of peoples main talking points, and it could be the soundtrack of the summer. Its fast, retro, cool and has a style to it that you cant help but glide a little when you listen to it when you walk down the street. Visually the film is stunning. While there are some incredible action set pieces to visually impress you, I find some of the quieter, more intimate cinematography really steal the show. The use of colours, camera placement and lighting really creates a memorable style with its throwback love for the 1980’s cinema the film was trying to evoke.
The cast is stellar from Kevin Spacey’s cold, calculated performance to Ansel Elgort’s distance, Brando-esque portrayal of ‘Baby’, this film has a golden cast and crew. Perhaps some of the characters, most notably Hamm’s and Foxx’s are a tad by the book but the actors charisma and some laugh out loud lines help elevate these characters above what we might just come to expect.
The film was great from start to end, and while being visually impressive and a joy to watch – it had the heart to back it up. There was not only moments I laughed out loud, quite a bit might I add, but the film had some genuine heartfelt moments that saw me as invested in this film as I have been for any other film this year. It was funny, heartfelt, action packed and down right cool, if you were thinking about waiting till the DVD release to check this out I’d strongly recommend watching it on the big screen. When members of my audience busted out clapping in certain scenes it really added to the atmosphere, its a film i’d definitely recommend watching on the big screen.
Follow James at @JamesisGinger
