Edgar Wright’s Masterpiece
I wanted to make my first review on my website something that is special to me, so of course I decided to review my favorite movie: Baby Driver. This was honestly the first movie that really got me into film. When I started to really research actors, directors, the film making process, and cinematography. My favorite memory of this movie is that I didn’t know any details pertaining to the movie. Who was in the movie, who directed it? I didn’t even know what it was about. My brother just decided we should go see a random movie and when the movie ended I was left with this incredible feeling that I just saw an absolute masterpiece and that feeling is what made me so obsessive with movies from then on. It turned me into a movie junkie looking for a film that’ll give me that same feeling, like I need a fix.
Finally getting into the film itself, this movie was directed by English director Edgar Wright and stars Ansel Elgort playing Baby. Baby Driver is about a music loving getaway driver named Baby who works for Kevin Spacey’s character, Doc, in order to pay back the money he owes him. As Baby is winding down on getting paid up with Doc he meets a nice girl in a diner named Debora, played by Lily James, and immediately takes a liking to her because of their common love for music. Things seem like they’re going fine for Baby as he is finally debt free from Doc and going out with Debora but things start to unravel as Doc makes Baby do one more job.
There are a lot of characters details about Baby that a revealed as the movie goes one but the main ones are shown right from the first scene. Some important things about Baby is that he has tinnitus, he’s loves music, and he’s a great driver. The driving part most obviously portrayed as he masterfully maneuvers around police cars and speed traps as his crew escapes, but the way Wright portrays Baby’s tinnitus and importance of music in this film is nothing less than genius. The film starts with the production company’s logos appearing over a sustained violin note. This rings for a while then fades into a high pitched ring like the noise that someone with tinnitus would hear, and then that noise fades into the sound of a car braking to a halt. So from the first thirty seconds Wright shows the viewer, whether they know it or not, that Baby loves music, has tinnitus, and drives. This is just one example of the excellent sound design in this film.
The sound design is a very important aspect of this film but it is very impressive how the sound goes hand and hand with the editing and cinematography as well. This movie contains music almost all the way through and almost every action is synched up to the beat of the song. This has been shown in some of Wright’s previous films like Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz but only in certain scenes. This is shown not only in the first scene as Baby sings along to the song but in the second scene as he picks up coffee. I think this scene shows it most prominently because not only is every action and sound effect of the city goers’ synched to the song but so is the graffiti. As Baby walks to pick up coffee he walks past graffiti that shows bits of lyrics from the song that Baby is listening to, Harlem Shuffle by Bob & Earl. Things like ATM keypad beeps, car horns, and street performers synch up exactly to the beat of the song as well as the rhythm in which Baby walks, orders his coffee, and grabs it. This again is only one example of this being done. It’s done throughout the whole movie in many interesting and creative ways.
I say this is Edgar Wright’s masterpiece because it takes everything that Edgar has done well in his previous movies and turns it to 11. The syncopation to music, the quick creative cuts, creative ways of foreshadowing (something I would’ve talked about but I wanted to keep this spoiler free). It’s apparent that at this point Wright’ career he is a well-refined director and he can piece together something, dare I say, perfect.
Obviously I’m biased but I this movie is great. It is one of the few movies that I can watch a multitude of times and love it every time. So I highly encourage you all to go rent, buy, or stream this movie and enjoy it for yourself. I would love to hear what any of you all think after watching it!
Available to rent and buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.76ae61ff-94b1-06d8-762e-8c542e1c978d?autoplay=1&ref_=atv_cf_strg_wb
