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Baby Driver review


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Baby Driver

Tri Star

R. 112 min

 

The first thing that struck me about this latest oddball action thriller whose plot seems to be there for sticking together a bunch of chase scenes is this: wow somebody took the time to write direct and produce a film inspired by the title of a Paul Simon song. I guess there are worse inspirations in this world so Im okay with that. As the flick rolls on down the road you will get the feeling, a true feeling Im sure, that the directors and producers are big fans of The Fast and Furious franchise and have seen a lot of Quentin Tarantino films but not, unfortunately, spending enough time figuring out how to makes it work. Yes, indeed BABY DRIVER is brash and often left of center with some very quirky and somewhat interesting characters and situations but somehow doesnt quite make its way into the genres Hall of Fame. It might earn an honorable mention somewhere but thats about as generous as Im willing to go.

Thats unfortunate because I think what we have here is a missed opportunity to really take advantage of the freedom of script and the cast including one of our greatest actors Kevin Spacey. Baby (Ansel Elgort)is the main character, is something of a wimpy kid might have been played by Michael Cera a few years ago. Hes a savant in that hes not good for much except the fact that he can really drive an automobile. Its this unearthly skill which has made him invaluable to Doc (Spacey) a gangster that specializes in assembling small gangs of hardened criminals to pull off major heists. To make sure these big scale robberies go well hes decided, for some reason, to shake up the crew with every caper. Except, of course, for Baby the best driver ever. We find out the reason the kid, a seemingly decent guy, works for these nasty sons of bitches is because he screwed up at one time and stole the bosss car. Now Doc has him locked into working for his criminal enterprise until he has paid off his debt. And pay it off he does. Of course, thats about halfway through the movie if that much, and its at this point we realize that the kid is really in danger. Its right about this time that baby meets a lovely young waitress named Debora (Lily James) who has dreams of jumping in a car and taking off on a wild whirlwind trip across America. Of course, this is where we find out that even though the debt is paid doc has no intention of allowing the kid his freedom. To make to make matters worse each job gets consistently more dangerous and seems to incorporate crazier and crazier mugs. When the jobs go from simple but profitable hijacks into killing sprees, Baby and Lily are in big trouble. As I said before the driving scenes are enjoyable even though they do tend to drag on as the film goes on. But things do become more intense as the other criminals become more violent the capers more and more dangerous and the threat to baby and Lily direr you can pretty much guess at least the style of the ending but keep in mind thats only the penultimate climax. I personally felt that the very final scene took away something from what Id hoped for, but what the hell. You decide.

I should mention that theres a good amount of quirky filler in this flick, not the least of which the backstory of how the kid became obsessed with driving and the omnipresent iPod he wears constantly. He was what is parents were killed in a tragic auto accident and furthermore gives the producers an excuse to use a bunch of old songs as a soundtrack. We know that's a cost effective planned, right? This might also explain his fearlessness behind the wheel of a car. Maybe? Product placement? Probably. Theres already a revival of the old iPod clickwheel.

Its certainly a little bit out there and somewhat entertaining so Id say its worth your six bucks depending on what time you like to go to the movies. Its just not great. But at least they play the Paul Simon song at the end.

 

B-

WSS

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