Baby Driver (2017)

Put in your earbuds, tap your toes to the music, and at some point the noise of the world sorts itself into rhythm. Baby Driver is a film that expands exactly that sensation into a feature. Edgar Wright syncs the roar of cars, gunshots, footsteps, and even the timing of dialogue precisely to the songs his protagonist hears. The result is a film you do not so much watch as listen to and ride. My rating is ★4.0.

What it’s about — A getaway driver who drowns out tinnitus with music

The protagonist, Baby, is a young man who developed tinnitus after a childhood accident and must constantly cover the ringing with music. At the same time, his prodigious driving skills make him the getaway driver for a crew of robbers. He grips the wheel only to repay a debt to the crime boss Doc, but after meeting Debora at a diner and falling in love, he dreams of escaping this dangerous world.

Pull the plot out on its own and it is a familiar crime romance. But the real protagonist of Baby Driver is not the story; it is the rhythm that carries the story along. From the very first scene, the film perfectly synchronizes a getaway chase with music, declaring clearly what kind of experience the coming 113 minutes will be.

Direction — Chases choreographed like dance to the beat

Edgar Wright’s direction comes close to choreography. He matches every motion to the beat of a song. The timing of the wipers, the instant a bullet strikes a wall, even the stride of a character walking down the street all interlock with the music without a hair’s breadth of error. The opening car chase is a textbook scene demonstrating just how exhilarating this approach can be.

It is especially commendable that the chases were built with real vehicles and stunts rather than relying on computer graphics. The hefty sense of mass and speed that fills the screen is something digital can hardly imitate. Wright drives relentlessly forward with rapid cutting yet maintains clear blocking so the audience never loses track of space. That balance, seizing flash and clarity at once, is his strength.

Performance — Baby, who speaks through gesture without dialogue

Ansel Elgort convincingly renders the taciturn Baby through expression and gesture alone. His movements, sliding along to the music, convey the character’s interior more precisely than dialogue could. Kevin Spacey plays the cold boss Doc in his distinctive cadence, adding weight to the film.

The supporting players hold their ground, too. Bats, played by Jamie Foxx, raises the tension with unpredictable violence, while Buddy, played by Jon Hamm, reveals his madness as the film moves toward its back half and shifts the mood in an instant. Thanks to them, a story that could have been light gains a sense of genuine danger.

What the film says — The freedom to live by one’s own beat

Baby Driver is, in the end, a story about freedom. Music is Baby’s refuge, a place to catch his breath away from a painful reality, and an expression of the desire to live by his own rhythm. The more the world of crime binds him, the more desperate the songs he listens to become. Inside the flashy genre shell lies the struggle of one young man trying to live while keeping his own beat.

Ratings & reception

The IMDb rating is 7.5 out of 10, and the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer is 92 percent, reflecting broad acclaim. The Metacritic score is 86 out of 100. The way music and editing are fused was hailed as fresh by critics on release and has since been frequently cited as a textbook case for sound and editing. The film was also nominated at the Academy Awards in the editing and sound categories, earning recognition for its technical polish.

Verdict

Baby Driver is a rare film in which form itself becomes the pleasure. The story carries somewhat light weight and the back half can feel rushed, but the idea of binding music and driving into a single body, and the skill to push it all the way through, is plenty thrilling. It is the work best suited to a theater’s sound system, and there is no reason to hesitate over four stars.

Recommended for

• Viewers who feel a thrill in the perfect fusion of music and image
• Those who love the hefty sense of speed in chases made with real stunts
• Anyone seeking a crime film that is light to enjoy yet alive with style