What To Stream: Baby Driver

Baby Driver, written and directed by Edgar Wright, is about a getaway driver with tinnitus (Ansel Elgort) named Baby, who is the chief getaway driver for mob boss Doc (Kevin Spacey). Baby thinks he is done after one last job and plans to run away with a waitress named Debora (Lily James). However, he is pulled back into the fold before he is able to do what he wants. I know the plot description sounds simple and something that has been done a million times (which it has been), but this film is so much more than that description.

So I’ve been looking forward to this film for months now, ever since early buzz started coming out of festivals a few months back, and around that time is when I saw the trailer. I was immediately in with the extremely positive buzz and the fact that I loved the trailer and was not disappointed. I loved this film.

First off, I want to say that Edgar Wright’s style in this film is fantastic and it’s what makes the film so good. The action scenes are frenetic without creating a sense of confusion. All of the action scenes feel real and I honestly don’t know how much is CGI, if any. The characters he builds feel real while also having a sense of quirkiness that fits really well. And his use of music throughout the film is masterful. Each scene, especially the action scenes, has a song that it goes along to and every piece of the scenes flow exactly to how the song goes. The use of the music adds so much to the already great set pieces.

The acting is also fantastic throughout. Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Eiza Gonzalez are all fantastic as three of the robbers that work alongside Baby on several heists, with each character being drastically different while also being really similar to each other. Kevin Spacey as Doc is great as always because honestly, when is Kevin Spacey not great. Then there’s Lily James, who is fantastic as well. She toes the line of flirtatious and naive, while also being really intelligent at the same time. More than that though, her chemistry with Ansel Elgort is fantastic.

Speaking of Elgort though, this is his film and if he doesn’t work, then the film would fall apart. Luckily, he is amazing. He makes the character of Baby endearing and fun, all while making him three-dimensional and not just a music-loving getaway driver. I want to say so much more, but I also don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll just leave it at this.

My only real negative is some of the character beats that occur in the second act, which focuses mainly on the romance between Baby and Debora. While James and Elgort have great chemistry and work really well together, some the decisions that their characters make seem very rushed and can come off a little forced instead of completely natural. Small little gripe, but it was something that was apparent enough for me to mention.

Overall, Baby Driver is a fun, exciting, original film with great directing and great performances that everyone should check out.

Baby Driver is out now on Blu-Ray, DVD, Amazon Video, and iTunes.