Baby Talk: Baby Driver Review, Spoiler-Free
- Joan Sloan
- Jun 26, 2017
- 3 min read
Oh Baby Baby! Baby Driver is definitely one of my favorite movies to come out this year so far. It’s clever, colorful, funny, captivating and alladat shit. This movie is one you see just because you want to have a good time watching a movie. This is a movie that will stay in your memory and leave you thinking of it days later. Compared with other films just as fun and creative (such as Scott Pilgrim Vs The World or The World’s End) from Edgar Wright, Baby Driver fits perfectly. Much fun. Such drive. Very zoom zoom. That’s not to say there aren’t things that could’ve been done better or that it is a perfect movie, but this movie is through and through solid for all technical purposes.
Soundtrack. There doesn’t seem to be much time throughout without music, and not the cheesy movie mood music used for dramatic purposes and sound effect- but actual real songs that we’ve all heard for the most part. Whenever Baby would take out a headphone, or they abruptly fall out, suddenly the music becomes background noise or just ends. Baby’s constant use of his iPods is explained as a way to give exposition and justification. Either way, the use of music is brilliantly done to further connect audience with the character.
The story itself once again, is pretty solid. It is CONSISTENT. I will admit I am that person who will watch a movie nonchalantly but if I notice continual inconsistencies or major plot holes, I become fixated on it and upset. And the rest of the movie becomes a problem for me. There wasn’t really anything within this movie that I could recall being inconsistent. Everything made sense, everything checked out. One of the things that I do appreciate about Edgar Wright is his presentation with movies, meaning his attention to little details that really do matter in the end. For example, Baby’s first iPod was in fact a first gen iPod. The child portrayed in the movie was about 5-7 years old when receiving the iPod gift, which lines up with Baby’s approximate age in the film because those iPod’s came out circa ’01, and the movie itself is in present times. Even how there’d be song lyrics of a song played just placed somewhere in the shot on something inconspicuous is a nice touch of detail. Additionally, as far as dialogue goes, most of the conversations –if not all- felt natural and fluid. It wasn’t overly obvious that the actors were acting. Honestly, there are some moments in my humble ole’ opinion in where *some* of the acting was a bit on the questionable side. For the most part however, everyone was quite consistent and I feel like Jamie Foxx and Kevin Spacey both really shined in this movie. It could be that they’re both quite seasoned but in any case they killed their roles.
Without giving too much away, I will comment that I feel as great as the movie is, there was something kind of missing for me. And after some thought I’ve come to realize what that something was. Baby and Debbie’s relationship is great. It’s cute and fun and alladat shit. But my issue is that as cute as they are together, as an audience member I feel like I missed where/when they got to the “I love you point” ? We only see them have a few, brief solo interactions together so when the hell did they have time to develop such deep emotional feelings toward one another? I suppose one could argue that Baby fell in love so quickly because Debbie reminded him of his mom but ehh….I’m not sure I wanna go for that. Also, I’ll quickly note that in truth, there wasn’t *as much* action as I expected based on the trailer but that didn’t take away from overall enjoyment of the film. That aside, in conjunction with the witty humor, subtle yet blatant foreshadowing, small detail attention, character charisma, and originality, this movie commands its own lane within the “action/thriller/crime” genre. It’s not a movie I’d say you “have to see in theaters”, but I would say you need to watch it at some point if you just enjoy watching a good, fun, and exciting movie. Watching it in theaters is cool, but this movie is put together in a way that you’ll get the same effect no matter where ya watch it. That’s what I think makes a movie some quality stuff. So watch it. Trust me. I love you.
Overall rating: 4.5/5
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