Baby Driver (2017)

[AimingforYoko]

Quote

After being coerced into working for a crime boss, a young getaway driver finds himself taking part in a heist doomed to fail.

Great, great flick. The matching of the beat of the scenes to the beat of the music was arresting (if you'll pardon the pun.) Everybody was great here, Spacey hamming it up, Foxx doing his shifty-eyed crazy thing and Jon Hamm as Don Draper if that career in advertising went off the rails. Ansel Elgort was understated, especially up against his criminal cohorts, but that was kind of the point.

This certainly showed Edgar Wright can do action set-pieces.

[methodwriter85]

I really liked it, but I thought they should have left it open for a sequel. Then again, it's better for the character that everything did get tied up at the end.

I kind wish they had gone with the ending they had set up, with them riding off into the sunset and getting away with it. It would have felt cleaner that way.

[SeanC]

I thought it was excellent; probably my favourite film of the year so far. In particular, as a big Mad Men fan, this is Jon Hamm's best film performance to date (he's been mostly underserved by films thus far).

Lily James brings a lot of charm, which really helps the movie along because her part is pretty stock and at times skates past what feel like they should be more significant moments like her having virtually no reaction to finding out that Baby is a criminal and being asked to go on the run with him.

Edited June 30, 2017 by SeanC

[thuganomics85]

I enjoyed the hell out of it.  I don't mean this as an insult, but it does feel like this film is the most likely out of Edgar Wright's resume to find mainstream success, thanks to the more straightforward story and American/Hollywood stars, but I thought Wright still brought the same qualities that he has brought to his other work, and really shined here.  And the music and use of it was fantastic.  A great combination of songs I love and ones I never even heard of.  It even had a Queen song that wasn't "We Will Rock You" or "We are the Champions"!  Miracles can happen!

Never saw the Divergent series or The Fault of Our Stars, so this is my first time seeing Ansel Elgort, and I thought he did a pretty good job as Baby.  He made Baby kind of a weird loner, but charming enough that I can buy why others like him and Deborah was attracted to him.  I only really know Lily James from Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies, where I thought she was easily one of the best things about, so it was good seeing her in a better film here, and I thought she was really good.  And, honestly, I think her American accent was one of the best out of most "British actors pretending to be American" performances.  She not only avoided the blandness that can come with the territory, but I thought she also didn't over-exaggerate the Southern twang like others have done.  Had I not known who she was, I would have thought she was actually from the Georgia area.

All the villains were pretty fun.  Kevin Spacey can pretty much do this type of performance in his sleep, but he was still a blast to watch.  Jamie Foxx was really unlikeable in a great.  Bats' eventual fate was probably the biggest hell yeah moment in the film.  Jon Hamm pretty much dialed up the charm to 11, but always had an underlining sinisterness to Buddy in all of his scenes, so him snapping at the end wasn't surprising.  Wish there was more Jon Bernthal (which could be said about any film he is in), but his few scenes were fun.

Only complaints I really had was the final act maybe went on a bit too long, and I did find it noticeable that the female characters; Deborah and Darling; weren't as developed as the men.  But I kind of remember similar issues with Scott Pilgrim, so maybe that's just a general weakness for Edgar Wright.  But that is minor stuff, and the film was overall a fantastic watch.  Definitely one I'll pick up when it's out on Blu-ray.

[kiddo82]

I thought it was good not great.  The musical moments/choreography were pretty awesome but the story did little to distinguish itself from other heist films, down to the good guy in a bad situation narrative.

Edited July 2, 2017 by kiddo82

[JessePinkman]

This was the worst movie I've seen all year. I mean I hated this. A half hour in I was ready to leave.

It felt like the first draft of a first time director. It was cliched, overly written, meandering, full of cardboard characters and too reliant on an admittedly great soundtrack.

I have so much to dislike about this movie but my biggest points of contention character-wise were Bats and Debra.

Why was Bats so antagonistic toward Baby? Other than...he's the antagonist. Your getaway driver is quiet. WHO CARES? It's not like he didn't talk when spoken to, he just didn't have a lot to say. 

Debora had zero agency, we got no indication that she would go along with Baby's insane life. She was the quintessential Love Interest. She was a thing for Baby to worry about, not a person in her own right.

[kiddo82]

When Bats wanted to go into the diner why didn't Baby just say "I go here all the time.  It'll look weird if all of a sudden I show up with three, random, new friends."  Also, they had just shot up a bunch of dirty ATF agents, or whatever they were, and they were hours away from doing a job, why would they even want to be seen together in public?  That didn't make any sense.

Edited July 2, 2017 by kiddo82

[absnow54]

Saw this last night and really enjoyed it. I agree, though, that the plot was pretty weak (and Debora was barely a one dimensional character.) The music and choreography were so masterfully assembled, every action scene was such a blast.

[Shannon L.]

My 18 year old son loved it and my husband thought it was fun and said the next day that the more he thought about it, the more he liked it, so he and I are taking my daughter and her boyfriend to see it this morning.  Back when the most recent Godzilla came out, we said it wasn't great, but our friend exclaimed that it was "The popcorniest of all popcorn movies" she'd seen in a while.  I'm going into this movie with that attitude.  Good, summer, popcorn flick--high in energy and fun, light on everything else.  Or, as Roger Ebert once responded to his friend's "thumbs down" critique:  "It's a summer movie, Gene!  Plot and character development go right out the window in the summer!"

I'll chime again later today.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Definitely a fun summer, popcorn flick!  I understand the criticisms regarding the characters, but I still really enjoyed it and the director's uses of music.  I just wish there had been at least one more clean getaway, instead of just the first one, followed by sequences that involved a lot of crashes.  Fantastic stunt driving!

Edited July 4, 2017 by Shannon L.
No need to double post.

[johntfs]

It was pretty much okay.  Kind of an early Fast and the Furious feel to it, except that characters seemed to overall make smarter decisions in that franchise than in this movie.  Why is Bats deliberately pissing on the guy who gets them away from the cops?  Why does Baby decide to kill him in the middle of the damn heist instead of simply telling Doc about the situation (at which point Bats is in the trunk of the next car to get "sundowned?")  Hell, why doesn't Doc tell them all, "by the way, the guys you're meeting are cops in my pocket.  So don't, you know, stupidly murder them all?"

Most of all, WTF with that ending which pretty much shuts down most of the story space for any kind of sequel.  Hell, Deborah and Baby driving off at the end could easily have been set to:

[SeanC]

54 minutes ago, johntfs said:

Most of all, WTF with that ending which pretty much shuts down most of the story space for any kind of sequel.  

Edgar Wright has talked about doing a sequel, actually, but regardless, why would it be weird that the movie has a definitive ending?  It wasn't pitched as a franchise-starter.

[methodwriter85]

Edgar Wright has said Sony wants a sequel, which I wouldn't mind, but how exactly are they doing to do one? They should have at least kept Jon Hamm's character alive.

[tongueincheek]

2 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Edgar Wright has said Sony wants a sequel, which I wouldn't mind, but how exactly are they doing to do one? They should have at least kept Jon Hamm's character alive.

On this front -- I'd so be down for a spin-off prologue that revisits Buddy and Darling's story -- how they met, what led to their falling madly in love and into this underbelly of Atlanta crime. 

Edit for additional thoughts...

I think a proper sequel could be done catching up with Debora and Baby (Miles) -- I can buy that perhaps Baby has kept his eye on Doc's nephew Sam. Perhaps it's a good 10 years since Baby has been out of prison, Sam has gotten himself pulled into the undercurrent of the same world that his uncle was embedded in. Now he's trying to get out, and Baby drives again with the goal of helping Sam get out. 

Edited July 6, 2017 by tongueincheek

[scarynikki12]

They can also bring back Shane from Walking Dead as a primary antagonist. 

[methodwriter85]

15 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

They can also bring back Shane from Walking Dead as a primary antagonist. 

Oh, that's a good point. I didn't think about him. He already seemed to have this vendetta against Baby anyway.

[Traveller519]

Oh what a joy to have something original and fresh in the summer movie season!

It probably failed to live up to the hype for me, but that's okay. I really enjoyed it but it wasn't a game-changer for me the way something like Fury Road was. In fact it felt a lot like Haywire. Surround the unknown product with a lot of talent and then let the director's story breathe. Like you could tell Haywire was Soderbergh's movie, this was definitely Wright's in spite of all the star power. Let the soundtrack dictate the movie, and get some cool set pieces out of it. I feel like I'll be flipping to Baby Driver any time I see it in my channel menu. It'll be easy to pick up anywhere through the movie.

I hope there's no sequel, but given the good box office performance so far (better than expected anyway) and critical reviews I worry that may be a forgone conclusion. A better thought, follow the tempate of the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy he's already directed, and bring a lot of the same actors back for another wholly fresh story. John Wick was an excellent stand alone movie with a nice definitive end. the sequel lost a lot because of that.

[Silver Raven]

You just can't go wrong with Edgar Wright.  What a great movie.  With a great main character.  By which, I mean the soundtrack.  And Ansel Elgort was pretty great, too, though his character was rather stonefaced.  Super cast, in particular imo, Jon Hamm.  I didn't know the actress who played Darling, but I liked her a lot, too.

Edgar Wright's penchant for closeups would have done any other actor in, but Ansel Elgort's skin is so perfect, he could do Dove soap ads.  :)

[methodwriter85]

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Edgar Wright's penchant for closeups would have done any other actor in, but Ansel Elgort's skin is so perfect, he could do Dove soap ads.  :)

It's going to be kind of a shame when aging starts hitting him. The guy really does have like the best skin I've ever seen on a dude. It's flawless.

Did anyone else notice that Baby's accent kept slipping in and out?

[SeanC]

On a second viewing, the most implausible part was when the last car they stole had a cassette player.
 

[tongueincheek]

On 7/15/2017 at 5:30 AM, SeanC said:

On a second viewing, the most implausible part was when the last car they stole had a cassette player.
 

The Bronco? More plausible to me than the fact that even if 5 years had passed, Debora could afford a classic car like the one she picked him up in at the end. 

[leopardprint]

On 7/1/2017 at 8:58 PM, JessePinkman said:

Debora had zero agency, we got no indication that she would go along with Baby's insane life. She was the quintessential Love Interest. She was a thing for Baby to worry about, not a person in her own right.

They went on one date after two conversations and she is fleeing the police with him and then waiting five years for him while he's in  jail.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

To be honest, I thought of Baby as a manic pixie dream boy but also like that's almost too interesting a tag for his character. The driving set pieces were entertaining but I thought it was just ok. 

[methodwriter85]

1 hour ago, leopardprint said:

They went on one date after two conversations and she is fleeing the police with him and then waiting five years for him while he's in  jail.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

To be honest, I thought of Baby as a manic pixie dream boy but also like that's almost too interesting a tag for his character. The driving set pieces were entertaining but I thought it was just ok. 

That's funny because people said Ansel's character in The Fault in Our Stars was a Manic Pixie Dream Boy. I did love that he got that little lipsynch scene he did. I think Ansel's probably done with high school movies but I'd love to see him do at least one more John Hughes kind of high school movie, like Mae Whitman got in The Duff.

Deb is a head-scratcher. I guess she was desperate for love after the very recent death of her mother and she liked the excitement that Baby afforded her? This whole thing would have made more sense if they were childhood friends who reconnected or something.

[tongueincheek]

I mean, I definitely would've appreciated if the female characters had been given much more depth, and speaking specifically to Debora - Lily James is charming enough with such an engaging screen presence (I realize this is subjective), I was with her from point A to B. Some of my favorite dialogue in the film was between her and Baby. I think the only thing that really threw me off was trying to give her that little (BARELY) "badass" moment when she attempted to hinder Buddy and went after him with whatever that was...Baby still had to shoot him to protect her. 

I wish Eiza Gonzalez and Lily James had more interactions on screen as well. They were so cute together during the press tour and have been peddling a Thelma and Louise version with their characters. I'd LOVE that.

[Empress1]

On 7/20/2017 at 11:48 PM, leopardprint said:

They went on one date after two conversations and she is fleeing the police with him and then waiting five years for him while he's in  jail.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

To be honest, I thought of Baby as a manic pixie dream boy but also like that's almost too interesting a tag for his character. The driving set pieces were entertaining but I thought it was just ok. 

Yeah, I was like "I don't know why you are talking about running away with this dude you talked to twice. Get on with your life!" If we'd been given some indication that her home life was a mess or she also had something that she wanted to run away from, OK, but as it was her involvement with him made no sense.

[Ohwell]

On 7/1/2017 at 11:58 PM, JessePinkman said:

It felt like the first draft of a first time director. It was cliched, overly written, meandering, full of cardboard characters and too reliant on an admittedly great soundtrack.

I bolded this portion because I got the impression that the director thought it would make the movie more "hip" (I'm old so I can't think of a newer term), but it didn't help the rest of the movie.   

Best thing about the movie was when Jamie Foxx's character got impaled so that he finally STFU.  

Edited July 22, 2017 by Ohwell

[Oreo2234]

Quote

Definitely a fun summer, popcorn flick!  I understand the criticisms regarding the characters, but I still really enjoyed it and the director's uses of music.  I just wish there had been at least one more clean getaway, instead of just the first one, followed by sequences that involved a lot of crashes.  Fantastic stunt driving!

I agree. Despite some flaws it was a fun, stylish popcorn movie and I loved the music. 

Quote

Lily James brings a lot of charm, which really helps the movie along because her part is pretty stock and at times skates past what feel like they should be more significant moments like her having virtually no reaction to finding out that Baby is a criminal and being asked to go on the run with him.

She does bring a lot of charm. Deborah is a pretty thin part but James made the character more compelling than she could have been. Hopefully, if there is a sequel and she's in it, James will get a little more to work with. 

Edited July 25, 2017 by Oreo2234

[methodwriter85]

I think with Deb you just have to figure she's a lonely young woman who gets caught up into the thrill and romance of an exciting guy coming into her life and taking her out of the doldrums of her boring life. Add to the fact that they both have the grieving thing going on and she felt like she found a kindred spirit.

I saw the movie a second time and it still holds up, although I still wish the movie had ended with Baby giving himself up the cops and leaving his fate a little more up in the air. (I get why they didn't do that, but I still wish they had.)

One thing I did appreciate on the second time around is that Kevin Spacey never says Baby's done after the next heist, just that they'll be square.

I kind of want some ridiculous contrivance to resurrect Jon Hamm's character. He really should consider playing more villains. What was great about it was that he started out as being the nice one to Baby.

Although my nitpick is...if Jamie Foxx was apparently so unhinged that he would shot a gas station clerk to death just to steal some gun (and this was the kind of thing he'd do regularly), how the hell did he manage to last as long as he did? I feel like in real life someone like him wouldn't have made it to 25.

Edited July 29, 2017 by methodwriter85

[Unusual Suspect]

I found the ending a little too pat for my taste, but otherwise, this was quite the glorious ride.

[tongueincheek]

2 hours ago, Unusual Suspect said:

I found the ending a little too pat for my taste, but otherwise, this was quite the glorious ride.

Agreed, though I'm still fine with that last scene being interpreted as either a dream of the day he's released, or his actually getting out on parole. 

The film deliberately plays into the tropes of the very movies that inspired it, so of course we were going to get that perfectly packaged ending with its strong, moral message. 

I think a more realistic ending would've been having Baby come back to the diner after 5 years to see Debra, or have him seek her out, finding her some place else with some ambiguity as to what their connection would be after that time has passed. 

[MsNewsradio]

Saw it again Sunday and loved it even more the second time. Brought the whole family with me, and they all loved it (especially my 88 year old grandmother, lol). Definitely hope to see it a third time before it leaves theaters. 

[babs]

On 7/6/2017 at 4:43 PM, methodwriter85 said:

Oh, that's a good point. I didn't think about him. He already seemed to have this vendetta against Baby anyway.

Re: Jon Bernthal, I am pretty sure he was killed right after the heist he was in?They were all in the elevator, he said something like "if you don't see me again, I'm dead", he steps off the elevator, and as the doors are almost closed it looked like someone threw a bag over his head. Did anyone else see that? My husband commented on it too, but Googling around it looks like an open question and no one mentions seeing that so maybe we were both mistaking what we saw!

On 7/22/2017 at 10:12 AM, Empress1 said:

Yeah, I was like "I don't know why you are talking about running away with this dude you talked to twice. Get on with your life!" If we'd been given some indication that her home life was a mess or she also had something that she wanted to run away from, OK, but as it was her involvement with him made no sense.

She mentioned a couple of times being unhappy with her life and wanting to leave. The whole thing about "heading west on 20, driving as far as I can and never coming back" and, in a different scene, she says something like "there's nothing keeping me here anymore" and you see Baby filing that away, so it made sense to me that he would ask her to go with him and that she'd go.

 

I really liked this movie! As someone said above, it felt like a fun summer watch, nothing to get too bogged down in. Kind of like Drive - fun beats, fast cars, nearly silent, handsome protagonists with a heart. What more could a girl ask for? ?

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 6/30/2017 at 8:45 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Jon Hamm pretty much dialed up the charm to 11, but always had an underlining sinisterness to Buddy in all of his scenes, so him snapping at the end wasn't surprising.

"This is All. Your. Fault!"

This was better than I thought it would be, less crash-bang-explode than character-centric, and sequel or no sequel I think it stands perfectly well on its own.  Also, random observation; I watched it on DVD, so I paused it at a few points to do other things, and I noticed that Lily James bore a distinct resemblance to a young Jessica Lange. At least when the movie was paused. Never noticed that before.

[DarkRaichu]

I like this movie more than I probably should.  The use of sourndtracks to match the scenes were very well done.  For example, in the beginning when Baby walked around the neighborhood to pick up the coffed, the text on screen (grafitti, flyers, traffic signs, etc) would match the lyrics of the song that he was listening to.  There were so many details / hints throughout the movie which were very enjoyable to catch (ie. Monster Inc quote)

I can definately relate to play the correct music that matches the task at hand ;)  Lol at Baby spending a couple of minutes looking for music after he carjacked grandma's car.  I have spent a few minutes rearranging my play list just before a diving into new project at work :D

I also like how anyone can die at any time, making the movie a bit unpredictable.  Although, I am still not sure how Baby's adoptive dad survived the visit from the crew  :P

[ketchuplover]

On 10/16/2017 at 0:45 PM, DarkRaichu said:

I like this movie more than I probably should.  The use of sourndtracks to match the scenes were very well done.  For example, in the beginning when Baby walked around the neighborhood to pick up the coffed, the text on screen (grafitti, flyers, traffic signs, etc) would match the lyrics of the song that he was listening to.  There were so many details / hints throughout the movie which were very enjoyable to catch (ie. Monster Inc quote)

I can definately relate to play the correct music that matches the task at hand ;)  Lol at Baby spending a couple of minutes looking for music after he carjacked grandma's car.  I have spent a few minutes rearranging my play list just before a diving into new project at work :D

I also like how anyone can die at any time, making the movie a bit unpredictable.  Although, I am still not sure how Baby's adoptive dad survived the visit from the crew  :P

HOLY CARP BATMAN!  I hope you're using those powers of observation for the betterment of mankind!

[DarkRaichu]

15 hours ago, ketchuplover said:

HOLY CARP BATMAN!  I hope you're using those powers of observation for the betterment of mankind!

Although admittedly not good enough to catch my own typos in above post (holy macro!!) :D :D :D

I use it primarily to watch Game of Thrones, SW Rebels, Westworld, the Orville, etc and comment (sometimes argue) here on the forum. ;)

Edited October 19, 2017 by DarkRaichu

[SmithW6079]

On 7/5/2017 at 9:14 PM, SeanC said:

Edgar Wright has talked about doing a sequel, actually, but regardless, why would it be weird that the movie has a definitive ending?  It wasn't pitched as a franchise-starter.

I think these days, everything (especially action movies) is considered a franchise-starter. This way, Hollywood doesn't have to think too deeply for new ideas and new concepts. They can just recycle the old time after time after time after time. 

[JustaPerson]

Man, I hope Ansel Elgort doesn't come out with some story about Kevin Spacey. 

[Matt K]

13 hours ago, JustaPerson said:

Man, I hope Ansel Elgort doesn't come out with some story about Kevin Spacey. 

I was just talking about this with my wife.  As much as I love the story, Kevin Spacey's character "relationship" with Baby is significantly more disturbing now.  It'll be a while before I can probably rewatch the whole movie.

[VCRTracking]

Jon Bernthal talks about Kevin Spacey being a bully on the set:

[BetterButter]

Edgar Wright Is Writing BABY DRIVER 2

[raven]

I watched this yesterday without any real idea about what it was about and wow, I really enjoyed it!  Yes, it was a basic story but Baby and Debora had good chemistry, the performances were good, the music synching with the action was outstanding and the movie was so damn colorful.  It was also funny; the post office scene comes to mind when the teller asks Baby how old the nephew was: "four" "I'm eight" "they grow up so fast".  Hee.

I thought Ansel Elgort's switch from introverted expression to angry-guy-with-a-gun - I actually jumped in surprise when he shot Jon Hamm's character in the diner - was done really well.  Baby was actually a little scary and I think Debora was kind of excited about that - when they steal the car, she very casually tells the stoners that Baby has already shot one person.  The sequence in the parking garage was also really well done, music and action choreography.   Seriously, Baby has an angry side - killing the Jamie Foxx character (while well deserved) was another unexpected moment.  

The women were really side characters, though Darling had more to her than Debora (or maybe it was just the performance) though to be fair, none of the supporting characters were anywhere near as fleshed out as Baby - we know he's decent (takes care of Joe, gets the baby out of the car, gives the woman her purse (I also LOL'd at that), prevents JF's character from shooting the other driver), we know he's creative with his music, we know something of his past, etc. 

Quote

I also like how anyone can die at any time, making the movie a bit unpredictable.  Although, I am still not sure how Baby's adoptive dad survived the visit from the crew  :P

I was sooo relieved they didn't kill Joe.  I did worry that the nursing home would toss him out after Baby was arrested because the money Baby left with him was stolen.  Maybe it was already laundered at that point and Joe had a cover story.  I know I'm not supposed to think about that though!

I also like the ending, thought I thought the end shot of Debora waiting was a daydream.   Since Baby was arrested and did time, he won't have to run for the rest of his life unless he jumps bail.  Which I assume will probably happen since there's going to be a sequel.  I do think this movie stands really well on its own however.

[BetterButter]