Baby Driver

Offering enjoyable summer fun, Baby Driver a sort of chipper, youthful version of Drive with action and serious scenes rendered less heavy by cool musical numbers. Especially at the beginning, we get to see a sensitive perception of violence through the eyes of the main character, Baby, and admire the purity of his romantic relationship with the girl. But the film lacks more pointed dialogue and more sophisticated and refined direction for the other characters. In short, it lacks Quentin Tarantino’s touch. OMG, now THAT would be a movie! (07/06/2017)

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)

Nice looking lot of nothing. Without any characters that behave like people, with loads of clichés and surprisingly without focus. American reviewers will hype any mainstream movie that is not utter crap. (07/05/2017)

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)

If you have beat, you don't yet have a film. It can be a thrilling ride at full throttle, but it also puts the engine in neutral toward the end. The problem with the lack of story and dull characters eventually drives it off the road. (07/06/2017)

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)

Musicals can still be a lively genre not only in the predictable revival of classic works a la La La Land et al., but thanks also to the grasp of a formal master with ambition. Even though Baby Driver primarily mixes the elements gangster stories and romance, Wright’s concept of building the film’s overall style around the music is far more essential. Though this results in the characters singing and dancing only occasionally, cars dance to the music during chase scenes, shots are fired and banks are robbed in the rhythm of the soundtrack, and even loving looks have their own sound. In terms of the choreography of the actors’ movements, the camera and the mise-en-scène, and the harmonisation of all of these elements, the opening credits with the coffee run represents one of the absolute musical highlights. On a more general level, it is no less fascinating that the most youthful Hollywood film of recent years is the work of a man in his forties, which applies not only to the film’s formal freshness and feeling, but also to the unavoidable feeling of a generational litmus test. The trailer could evoke in thirty-somethings feelings of inappropriateness, which the film further reinforces with its overarching principle as a presentation of the inner feeling of youths growing up in pop culture, where everyone sees themselves as the star of their own video. Wright’s age is indicated only by his taste in music and the particular choice of songs, though like Tarantino, he has a chance to turn dusty old hits and obscure novelties into a generational retro soundtrack. At the same time, however, he also shows what an essential contribution Simon Pegg made to his previous films, because Baby Driver, unlike those works, lacks insight and the ability to not take itself too seriously. (07/04/2017)

Great music and jaw-dropping chases. Wright approached this from the right direction, showing us things we haven’t yet seen and even the story gets up to some nice tricks. Elgort is weird, Lilly James enchanting, Jon Hamm at last rocks even on the silver screen. A bitter-sweet farewell to Spacey. (03/09/2018)

Drive but for kids and teens who can't yet read between the lines of a movie and prefer, ideally, plenty of pop and an attempt at cool action scenes with characters you remember by their hairstyles and clothes, not by what they do or the attitude they represent. The cast is stellar, too bad about the untapped potential, though. Sloppy in every way. (09/30/2017)

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)

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)

Baby Driver it is sympathetic and entertaining summer fun, but it is not directed, or (mainly) written, quite perfectly. Compared to Wright's older British work, it is also more trimmed and lacks perspective. However, the entire film is based on the creative intention to edit it all into songs that always play in the protagonist headphones. One can only praise the director for being able to so excellently edit to the rhythm of the music not only the action scenes, shootouts and car chases, but also how a character walks down the street or plans a bank robbery. Content-wise, there is nothing particularly demanding, but as a silly action comedy, it's a fair bit more imaginative and entertaining than the last episodes of The Fast and the Furious. (07/11/2017)

Baby Driver is a milder version of the phenomenal Drive with Ryan Gosling, but it still manages to engage the viewer and make the second half of the film tense thanks to a good dose of action. Baby is a really bizarrely written character and you can see that Ansel Elgort enjoyed it very much. Overall, as far as the cast is concerned, I was extremely happy with the ambiguous Kevin Spacey, the deranged Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx, and the endearing Lily James. The first half was weaker, but then it all picked up and didn’t stop until the end credits. A weak four stars! (03/18/2020)

The filmmakers pulled off an undemanding film which doesn't make you ponder philosophical questions, but isn’t dumb either. The film was visually great, and despite the constantly playing music, I don't feel the need to complain about the soundtrack (thank god Enrique's whiny hits were absent). It was probably one of the last films where they didn't edit out the sick pervert and a favorite of mine, Kevin Spacey. It may not be five-star material, but I enjoyed it a lot. (01/31/2018)

Great summer genre all-rounder. Lots of action, romance and funny scenes. The actors were excellent. The best of 2017 so far. (08/04/2017)

I don't know why, but there was just too much missing here to make it great. The individual elements are excellent. The music is delightfully chosen. The action scenes are simply excellent. Some actors are great, but I was expecting more black humor, which is very scarce here, yet it would have been fitting. And I thought Jamie Foxx was pretty awful. A good impression, but not great. (08/06/2017)