Baby Driver is the opposite. It is a combination of fast-action heist film (think every Jason Statham movie, The Italian Job, and Heist) and graphic novel flick. It is loud and the action is non-stop. Its star is Ansel Elgort, a 23-year-old actor you may remember from The Fault in Our Stars or Divergent, as the savant getaway driver (named Baby) for robberies masterminded by Doc (Kevin Spacey). Spacey’s role is similar to the one he played in 21, where he portrayed an MIT professor who taught his top math students to count cards and take lots of money from Vegas casinos.
The heisters are an interesting assortment of characters played by such notables as Jamie Foxx, John Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez (who steals the movie). These are almost comic-book thieves who don’t hesitate to kill in the pursuit of cash. Baby seems like a nice kid who was orphaned in a car accident. He cares for his foster father, a deaf man restricted to a wheelchair. He loves music, mixes his own tapes, and listens to a wide variety of genres. In fact, he choreographs his life, including his role as getaway driver, to that music.
Director/writer Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) uses the music as an amazingly creative cinematic device to punctuate the film. Thus, the soundtrack is varied, entertaining, and mood-setting reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino.
Baby Driver is violent, evolving from a simple heist flick almost to super-hero improbable. And just to add variety, Wright even adds a love story between Baby and a waitress (played by Cinderella star Lily James) at the diner he frequents.
Inventive, entertaining, and captivating, Baby Driver is way better than I expected but is definitely not for everyone.