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City Press film review: Baby Driver
Johannesburg - To be honest, when I heard the title of this film I thoroughly rolled my eyes and thought that it was yet another animation about some baby playing boring tricks (The Boss Baby comes to mind). So awkward because it’s actually quite a thrilling action and adventure drama with an awesome mix of people cast in the film. Baby Driver is about talented getaway driver Baby (Ansel Elgort) who can’t drive without music and sees himself as the best in the game.
After he’s coerced into working for crime boss Doc (Kevin Spacey), Baby must face the music when a doomed heist threatens his life, his love and freedom. The film is a cinematic feast delivering rather convincing action (well, if you’re not the usual action film audience) with an amazing fusion of speed and music and a refreshingly original take on the usual fast-car action films.
Some call it a musical but it’s not the usual spectacle of people singing and dancing – instead it’s a “virtual musical” where a lot of the film is determined by the soundtrack. Baby is incredible behind the wheel, but always with earbuds in, blasting whichever songs he needs to get the job done – driving to his own beat.
At home, he cares for his deaf Pops and makes mixes from secret recordings of gang members. On one of his tapes, labelled Mom, lies the heart of Baby’s sad story – the loss of his mother. Usually the director picks the soundtrack to suit the scene, but in the case of Baby Driver, Edgar Wright’s obsessive hero seems to be deejaying his own life, using music to decide his fate as he steers his vehicle nearly out of any kind of bind with different iPods to cater to his mood.
What should be praised is that the supporting cast is one of the film’s biggest strengths with the likes of Spacey as Doc, the nuisance in Baby’s life, being an oddly paternal character who will have you mesmerised with his awesome one-liners. The film is sweet and funny, if that’s what you’d like in an action film.
Channel24 also reviewed Baby Driver. Click here to read more!
Watch the trailer here:
