Baby Driver

For the first time, I was genuinely looking forward to an Edgar Wright film, but this ride doesn't just hurt the eyes, it hurts the head. I don't understand the world in which the story takes place, and it seems detached from all possible realities and even genres. Supporting characters change their essence in a second, moods clash unpleasantly, and at the end, there are so many misgivings that only the sympathy towards some members of the talented cast saves the average. However, I am most disappointed by the so heavily promoted "musical" aspect of the film. The fact that there is an endless number of songs in the film, which simply play in the background of the scenes with Baby often humming them, simply doesn't make it a musical. The occasional gunshot or impact that fits the rhythm is a nice idea, but it becomes tiresome by the second scene. All playfulness remains surprisingly spasmodic. (08/24/2017)

The original playful to musical mood that Baby Driver initially enticed me with, unfortunately, either got old or lost completely during the film. It's certainly not a bad film, the action scenes have swing and the music is fine, but the villains are almost more interesting than the main protagonist and the story is... Ummm... It didn’t do much for me. Three and a half stars. (07/28/2017)

Despite Baby Driver’s occasional stumble and inconsistent perspective, I consider making an action film in which almost everything happens to the rhythm of the music that the protagonist is listening to or based on the current mood or occasion to be a great way to revive the musical genre (and, at the same time, to subversively foist it off on viewers who otherwise ignore musicals and for whom the year’s best film so far this year is Fast & Furious 8). We can reproach Wright for not being stylistically distinctive (he previously edited The World’s End), for not being capable of working with female characters, and, unlike his great filmmaking role-model Quentin Tarantino, for remaining, even in his forties, an immature nerd with a weakness for autotelic fetishisation of movie references (the road passing by like in Lost Highway, damaged sunglasses like those worn by Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde) and repeatedly telling the same story about protagonists who have to grow up but can continue to have fun in essentially the same way, inhabiting their escapist worlds while being tremendously cool. Or we can simply enjoy an original summer blockbuster with a great soundtrack and some incredibly high-octane action scenes. Since I have no plans to grow up yet, at least in relation to pop culture, I choose the second option. 85% (08/13/2017)

Edgar Wright is a pro. Never mind what he’s filmed before; now, with his quick-fire editing and love of music, he’s actually managed to film one of the best gangster movies in a while. When I was watching it, I truly didn’t even care how illogical it was at times. I was enjoying an action comedy so perfect that I doubt I’ll get a similar experience within the next five years until Edgar comes up with something new. And you realize that once you hear high-quality music in the background of a machine gun firing off. You also realize it as the music gets intense when Ansel Elgort’s having his life-changing moment. He might be just a twenty-three-year-old pipsqueak, but after half an hour, I finally got used to him; because beneath the rough layer of toughness and arrogance, there’s a boy who’s lived through a lot. And that’s getting me started about the story, which isn’t exactly any good, but I didn’t even expect it to be. This movie was filmed to be visually effective and to be a conscious homage to all the (not only) Guy Ritchie gangster movies. If Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were starring in this, I think it could even be another addition to the Cornetto saga. But this way, it’s “just” a simple, but highly functional movie. That’s exactly what I expected from Edgar Wright and it’s what I got in the end. Thank you for an amazing experience. At times, I was thinking that I’m not gonna get a similar experience nowadays. The editing combined with the music – absolutely awesome. (08/20/2017)

A scented pop escapade with quite an effective rhythm that alternates dynamic and conversational scenes, whose greatest asset is the thoughtful editing and the movement of the camera and the characters around the mise-en-scène, thanks to which even the seemingly slower scenes don't hinder the pace. But finding a single passage that I would want to rewatch in the future, or a single twist that I would find more interesting than driving a car on our highways, no way. The best character is hands down the wisecracking Spacey (the forcibly cool Fox didn't catch on), the funniest scene probably the most static – a crime scene inspection with an eight-year-old. Wright may have the craft down and the individual details figured out, but this time he just doesn't entertain with story or characters. 65% (01/05/2018)