The high-speed chase tends to be a major component of any action film, with two in particular that a lot of people consider to be the best of all time in “The French Connection” and “Bullitt”. Unfortunately, a lot of movies in the last 20 years add car chases for the action, but they are flat and un-realistic to the point where not much goes into them and they mean nothing to the story itself, but “Baby Driver” is one that bucks that trend.
Directed by Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Grindhouse), the film stars Ansel Elgort (Divergent, Carrie), Kevin Spacey (21, Se7en), Lily James (Cinderella, Wrath of the Titans), Jamie Foxx (Collateral, Ray), C.J. Jones (White Space, What Are You, Deaf?), Jon Bernthal (Sicario, The Wolf of Wall Street), Lanny Joon (Takers, West 32nd), Jon Hamm (Mad Men, The Town), and Eiza Gonzalez. Baby (Elgort) constantly listens to his music on his iPod to drown out an abnormality from an accident and works as a getaway driver for robberies in Atlanta for Doc (Spacey), a gangster Baby is repaying after stealing from him at a young age. Baby meets Debora (James) and starts to fall for her, and while he tries to have a normal life with Deborah and make his aging and deaf adopted father Joe (Jones) happy, Doc convinces Baby to do one last job.
There is some CGI here but nothing major that stuck out, which is a statement of its effectiveness. The action sequences are very good, especially during the high speed chases. Spacey plays that cool calm and manipulating person just like in “21” and “House of Cards,” which really is in his wheel house, and Elgort does amazing in his role, acting while does his moves and lip synching to the music. I also have to give a shout out to Jones, who is deaf in real life and has very good chemistry with Elgort. Foxx in a villain role was different for me, but acting with Joon, Hamm, and Gonzalez all worked for me.
One thing I have to bring up is the soundtrack. I do not know how many songs are given credit to on the end credits, or how many songs are used, but it is a ton, and they are the right songs at the right time. When Baby is on the job and driving, he uses the songs on his iPod to gauge his driving, and I cannot think of a film in a long time with a soundtrack like this. This film is also almost two hours long and it does not seem like it, with action throughout and a great mix of action and a serious deep storyline. This film is a lot of fun, suspense, and action rolled up into one which is not for the entire family due to its violence and adult situations. I will definitely recommend this film as twilight to full price showing in the theaters.