Pop quiz, multi-choice: What's your first thought if I describe Edgar Wright's new movie Baby Driver as a musical heist car-chase love story? Or how about: 'This movie is La La Land meets Drive meet Fast & Furious meets Heat?'
Is your answer:
A. DEAR LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH I MUST THROW MYSELF UNDER THE NEAREST TRAIN
Or is it:
B. HOLY HELL GET ME TO A CINEMA, LIKE, YESTERDAY.
The right answer is in fact:
C. DON'T THINK - JUST GO SEE IT.
So yeah, Baby Driver is pretty much a musical; La La Land without the singing and dancing and without Ryan Gosling, it's Drive without the brutal head-bashing in the elevator and without.. erm.. Ryan Gosling, it's Fast and Furious without the need for a frontal lobotomy and without Vin Diesel and it's Heat without.. ummm.. well basically it's Heat.
There are LITERALLY a gazillion reasons to go see Baby Driver. Allow me to break it down to a five-shift gear-box' worth.
1. From the get-go we know we're in for a ride. Baby is a getaway driver. As soon as the bevy of bank robbers burst out from the back seat armed to the teeth and striding across the road in perfect unison, we know. They're moving to the beat of their own drum, to the beat of Wright's hand-crafted and lovingly curated collection of cracker tunes and into the box office in what will undoubtedly be one of the best movies of the year.
2. The cast is top notch. Ansel Elgort is Baby, Baby Driver. Kevin Spacey is Doc. Doc owns him, and Baby wants out. Lily James is Debora, and Baby's heart belongs to Debora. Everyone from John Hamm to Flea to Jon Bernthal to Jamie Foxx are bad-ass bank robbers, some badder than others.
3. This is balls to the floor high-octane top gear car chase heaven. All set to the best 'On the Road' playlist known to mankind. Squealing smoking tyres, hand-break 180s/360s, insane cops-chase-criminals from freeway to the fast lane to the wreakers yard. Maximum acceleration for maximum exhilaration.
4. A script dripping with enough quotable quotes to keep even the most quote-hungry equipped until the end of time.
5. A story that actually keeps you guessing without second-guessing your guessing, with enough heart to warm your own, and enough hilarity amidst the car-nage to keep the laughing gear well-lubricated.
So, yeah, what I said before. Go see it.
Five stars.
Baby Driver opens in cinemas on July 20.
Newshub.
