"Baby Driver" in theaters

Spoiler

Director Edgar Wright is now saying that although the ending starts in B&W, it does dissolve to color so we can take that to mean it is reality and does actually happen five years after Baby goes to prison.

 

HE got off easy.

 

Like a lotta stuff in the movie, it's just plausible enough for me to believe it.

 

Any Europeans rate it?

 

There were many of what might be considered plot holes in more straightforward movies, but given that Wright's previous movies all left reality far in the rearview mirror, I came into this one with the same expectations, that it would be more of an alternate reality take than something that followed real-world situations. So, within the movie's self-contained logic it didn't bother me.

John K.

 

I would think five years is plausible considering he only killed members of his crew and the one where self defense could be questioned had no witnesses.

As a frequent visitor to events at Philips Arena and the Georgia Dome, I'm pretty sure the final showdown took place in the parking garage between them.

My two cents is it was a great movie no matter how you interpret the ending.

 

Jon Hamm's character (haircut) reminded of Keith Allan in Z Nation.

 

Back from seeing this. An entertaining summer movie, no more, no less. Fun while it lasted but won't live long in the memory.

 

Did Scott Pilgrim do well in the US?

 

Isn't Baby guilty of conspiracy to commit murder for the murders the crew perpetrated when they were on jobs together?

 

I wouldn't think so because those murders weren't premeditated - I don't believe that the crew intended to kill people as part of the plan.

Indeed, I think the Spacey character wanted these operations to be as quick, smooth and violence-free as possible, so any bloodshed wouldn't have been on the hands of anyone but the hot-head who pulled the trigger...

 

I'm no lawyer but I think any murder committed by a co-conspirator during a group criminal act results in culpability for all concerned.

 

Okay, maybe - I'm no lawyer either!

Legal questions aside, I thought the movie was... pretty good. I don't think it lived up to all the praise it's gotten, mainly due to a sluggish middle section. The film starts/ends hot, but in the middle it tends to drag. We spend too much time with Baby's dull romantic life and we get too much of the thugs being thuggy without much real exposition.

When it connects, the movie works pretty well - the use of movie borders on campy but it doesn't quite get there, so those elements entertain.

And the actors do pretty well for themselves. Elgort proves likeable as the lead, and even though the film doesn't let Debora turn into much more than a pretty bauble, Lily James seems so adorable and bubbly that I don't really mind. Foxx and Hamm also make their roles sufficiently scummy.

All of this leads to a fairly enjoyable movie, if not one that really stands out as anything truly great. It gives us an above average diversion but fails to do more than that...

 

I seemed to like the middle section more than the most folks, and found the last third of the film to be the part that was wanting. Particularly a certain character proving rather indestructible for a long stretch of time. I also felt that Kevin Spacey's character (he of the me-first, it's-just-business-when-you-see-an-arm-hanging-out-of-a-trunk attitude) took a turn that didn't make a whole lot of sense.

My feeling was that style was far more important than substance in this film, and perhaps for that reason substance didn't quite hold up (after some very good tension had been created in the middle of the film, IMO). If substance HAD held up its end, we'd be talking "Reservoir Dogs" or "Pulp Fiction" territory, but I personally don't believe it did.

 

I have always wanted to ask a reviewer if you feel you should try to distance yourself from any preconceived notions before seeing a movie? I actually had the same issue you did thinking throughout much of it that it was not reaching the impossible expectations I had for it going in. Then, by the end, I thought it got there. But, in your case, do you think you would have liked the movie more if you knew nothing about it before seeing it? And how do you factor that in when trying to write your review?

 

While I do try to review films as objectively as I can, it's impossible. Even if I didn't know about the film's reviews, I'd have some preconceived thoughts due to the director, the genre, the cast, etc.

I try to be fair to the movies I review but there's no way I can go into them as a blank slate...

 

Yeah, it's diverting enough. And there's some clever direction and fluid editing. But imo the acting, especially Foxx and Spacey and Hamm, are what made this work, to the extent that it does. Even more than the music. spoiler: BTW, the APD would have been smarter than to advertise themselves. That was more implasuiable than some of the driving.

 

Ebert had a good line he used to say in lectures: "the key is to review the movie that was actually made... don't criticize the film you think the filmmakers should have made."

 

I see that point but I don't fully agree with it - you can do both. If there's something the filmmaker could've done that would've made the movie better, I think that should be said.

Call it Monday morning quarterbacking if you'd like, but I still think it's valid - if a movie comes with self-inflicted wounds, those should be mentioned...

 

I enjoyed it in a style (particularly the editing and the use of music) over substance kind of way. The one last job storyline has been done better in many Westerns and crime films. Thought the ending had a touch of Terminator 2 about it... Always nice to see Hamm. Come on, someone give him the role of Philip Marlowe in a movie...

 

Good idea. And franchise possibilities too. IMO by far the best Marlowe was Robert Mitchum in "Farewell My Lovely", even though he was pushing the edge of the age limit. Hamm could bring a certain reserved and stylish cynicism to the role.

 

Saw it yesterday, and enjoyed it. Lily James was perfect in her American accent & doe-like eyes.

 

I agree to a point with that, but the first 20 minutes and the last 20 minutes are so fast and frantic, I almost don't care about the middle dragging a bit.

The thing I keep harping on is at least it's a movie that has very interesting characters and it's not too stupid. I can't say the same thing about (for example) any of the Fast and the Furious movies, or Bad Boys, or any of those other lame chase movies. This at least had a point and it surprised me by a lot of unexpected twists and turns. Jon Hamm's character was a big part of that -- who saw that coming?

 

Too true. It's not All The President's Men, but it held me throughout.

 

Exactly. I liked the snappy dialogue, and I also liked the complexity of the characters. The whole thing about the Driver and also Kevin Spacey's character was terrific -- plus the fact that Spacey was very evil, and yet had some affection and humanity for the driver at the end.