If you expect Baby Driver to be anything like Hot Fuzz. Don't! If you expect Baby Driver to be anything like
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. Don't! If you expect Baby Driver to be anything like Last Night In Soho. Don't! The director of Baby Driver,
Edgar Wright set for himself a challenge to make every next movie he does in a different genre. Therefor you get absolutely different effects from his movies. Even though there are obvious Edgar Wright tropes in every one of his movies.
For example, the infamous Micky Mousing trope. Micky Mousing is when the action on the screen happens in sync with the music. It was invented by Disney for the early Micky Mouse movies. And is generally looked down upon as a cheesy thing at best. Unless... It's Edgar Wright doing the Micky Mousing. He managed to turn this thing into an art form. And Baby Driver is the ultimate Edgar Wright Micky Mousing movie. If there will ever be an Oscar for the best Micky Mousing, Baby Driver should get one.
Edgar Wright is kind of a weird director. His early films usually poked fun at genres. Being somewhat of a parody of any given genre. Hot Fuzz for example is very clearly a comedic parody of a cop buddy film. But despite it being a parody, the action in the movie is surprisingly good. I mean, Scott Pilgrim is a parody of a teen dramas about ex boyfriends and the action in it is also surprisingly very good. Hell, his film The World's End is a story about drunk people going for a drink into a pub. And the action is surprisingly very good.
So I guess he thought about all these things and said - "Hm...". And then decided that he should try making an action film.
Which is also a musical.
Which is also R rated.
Which also has the main character be a 20 something year old dude who's name is Baby.
And from that Hm... was born the Baby Driver.
Edgar Wright tends to play a lot with the cinematic language. And he also enjoys himself a complex shot or two. Which he is not shying away from in this movie. To be Frank, Wright is not quite
Spielbergian. Spielberg, when doing complex shots, tends to make them invisible. So while watching the movie, you don't actually notice the fact that the shot is complex. And he does it primarily for the story of the film. Edgar Wright likes to show off a little bit more. Which brings me to an interesting theory. The most showy long shot Spielberg ever done was towards the end of Adventures Of Tintin. Which Edgar Write co-wrote. Perhaps Edgar pushed Steve to show off a little. Who knows?
This movie is wonderfully directed. The flow of shots and scenes in nearly flawless. But could you expect anything less from Edgar Wright? The tension in this movie is superb. And the Micky Mousing is Oscar-Worthy. Like really. They had to calculate the speed of the car and the speed of the camera in relation to that car, so the supporting beams of the building would pass through the frame at the exact timing to be in sync with the music. That is some dedication there, mate!
I have a problem perhaps only with the casting in this movie. Everybody is too damn hot! It is a bit distracting. Also the lead actor
Ansel Elgort looks a bit too much like my brother. I felt so much cringe through out the movie seeing my brother kissing
Lily James (
Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella ). But other than that, the movie is very good, indeed.
Happy Hacking!!!