B. CRAIG GRAFTON - MOVIE REVIEW: BABY DRIVER

Author is a retired attorney having practiced for 35 years in Illinois who now lives in Texas and started writing stories about a year and a half ago.

 

                                   Movie Review:  Baby Driver
 
 
    This is a movie review written by me a seventy year old man about the movie Baby Driver. Now movies today are geared toward kids and anybody up to about the age of forty five is a kid as far as I’m concerned. But the handful of people there that Monday afternoon when I saw this movie were old geezers and geezerettes like myself and my wife. I went to this movie thinking Baby Driver another wild reckless car chase Fast and Furious movie where things will get smashed up, blowed up and shot up good, real good. And that’s the way the movie opens, with pulsating throbbing music played to a death defying car chase scene. And things did get smashed up, shot up, and blowed up good, real good. But in a different kind of way sort of. And I liked it. The movie as a whole was different. And I like different.
    It centers around Baby a young man with a troubled past. His folks were killed in a car accident in which he, at about age five, was a passenger too. As a result thereof he was left with a constant ringing in his ears. So to combat that ringing he’s always listening to music on his Ipod and says little to anyone. Some people think he’s slow since he doesn’t talk much. And when he does talk he sounds like Elvis. But he lives for his music. It’s his way of coping.
     So music plays a big big part in this movie as part of the story itself and in the background too. The music the audience hears is the music that Baby hears when his earphones are in. Baby listens to all kinds of music and has eclectic tastes depending on his mood that day. The makers of this film geniusly knew what they were doing here and without the music much would be lost concerning the entertainment value, the story and quality of the film itself.
    Now in his troubled juvenile delinquent past Baby earned a reputation as a high speed driving car thief. He has become employed by Doc the mastermind of the bank robbery. Doc always puts together teams of four, three different robbers each time but with Baby always as the getaway driver. Doc tells Baby just one more job and we’re squared away between us due to a past debt Baby owes Doc. Well  Baby gets square with Doc but to Doc getting square doesn’t mean Baby’s done working for him. There’s another job to pull he informs him. And so the story develops around Baby trying to stay alive and get out of the crime business at the same time.
     But unfortunately along the way he falls in love with a young waitress and his life gets complicateder and complicateder. Things spin out of control this way, then that way, and one is kept on edge the whole time wondering what in the heck is going to happen next that could possibly make things worse for him. And there’s always something that does. The frustration tension factor runs high for our hero and for the audience.
     Every character’s role whether from the smallest part to a major role is beautifully intertwined a written into the story. They all fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.  What’s here is just what’s necessary to move the story along. There’s no filler, no fat on this movie. It’s lean and clean with never a wasted scene. The script is well written and cleverly clever at times and that’s something different for a change too. And as I said I like different.
     Each character is well played by its actor. All the criminals, Joe Hamm and Jamie Foxx being the best known actors thereof, come across as someone you dare not offend for fear of losing your life. Doc is portrayed brilliantly by Kevin Spacey as the criminal mastermind. The actress as the waitress girl friend, Lily James, does a good job as a typical everyday run of the mill young innocent waitress, down on her luck, struggling to get by, while getting dragged into the world of crime by her reason of love for her boyfriend Baby. And Baby is of course is played by a truly baby faced young man, Ansel Elgort, who is perfect for this role as a tortured soul in a world he doesn’t want to be in. He’s the movie’s hero and we cheer for him, and for her, as they try to escape a doomed existence.
    Well after all the shoot outs, car driving scenes, and blow ups, which are many and are well orchestrated to music like a music video, the movie comes to a logical conclusion. Not the one you wanted or expected but a logical one. And just when you think the movie is about to be over, it isn’t.
    I’d recommend this movie for everyone except kids little kids because of course there’s lots of swearing in it. But then again how could you not have foul mouth criminals and have them be believable without swearing. And I’d recommend this movie because it’s entertaining. It ain’t Shakespeare. It’s not an artsy film. It’s an entertaining film. And when I go to a movie I want to be entertained. I want heartwarming, bone chilling, gut wrenching entertainment. Entertainment is my only standard. And this movie got the the job done for me. I’m looking forward to seeing it again on cable. Don’t you wait that long though. See it now. Today! You’ll be entertained.