Written by / 6/06/2022 / No comments / , , , , , , , , ,

EDGAR WRIGHT'S TARANTINOESQUE THRILLRIDE 'BABY DRIVER'

Retro Sparse for Baby Driver sans the title YEAR: 2017
BABY DRIVER is part RESERVOIR DOGS in storyline and characters, and nearly all Quentin Tarantino in style, substance and the super-hip hybrid of classic rock R&B, fast-paced humor and tons of bloodshed...


Of course Edgar Wright isn't without his own zingy style seen in cult favorites SHAWN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ, THE WORLD'S END: And here he's one-upped Tarantino's recent string of dull historical revenge sagas with an edgy urban precision combining music and the tribal beat of frantic self defense: with either pool sticks or in this case, gunfire. Making BABY DRIVER a metronomic, multi-heist action flick that also borrows from Walter Hill's THE DRIVER since the main character is quiet, brooding and much different than the brash thugs he provides an apt getaway for; each heist is viewed by only his perspective...

ModernCurveScore: ****
At first, young actor Ansel Elgort comes across as an awkward rubber ducky swimming in a pool of sharks, and not just for the story's sake.  But eventually all those distracting quirks and habits become as legitimately part of the character and story as the jobs provided by Kevin Spacey's crime boss intensify. Ansel's Baby, with a ringing in his ear from a tragic car accident during his youth, has to listen to music, all the time. The perfect excuse for an omnipresent soundtrack without being a trendy gimmick: every tune matters...


And the people matter too, each with his and her power and vulnerability. Jamie Foxx's Bats is the lethal wildcard (replacing one of the main actors who all but vanishes for no apparent reason) with an unpredictable, spontaneous edge, adding to Baby's obstacle in keeping his cute waitress girlfriend alive while moving the story along at an ultra face pace... Which it does without many breaks, and every twist and turn is connected to the overall theme of working for crime and then having to survive it and, herein, Edgar Wright has created an exciting rollercoaster that puts the action up front but not without the characters literally driving it (including Jon Hamm, whose tough, swarthy presence seems a waste till the 11th hour). Sure there's an overdose of madcap ultra-violence, not all the dark comedy works, the romance gets corny and sometimes the rambling dialogue becomes tiresome. But as a whole, BABY DRIVER is a roaring car chase flick that seems more old school stunt coordinated than modern day computer animated.  
Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

NAKEDLY INGITING THE ANIMATED CULT CLASSIC 'HEAVY METAL'

Title: HEAVY METAL Year: 1981 Rating: **** The best two stories from HEAVY METAL... producer Ivan Reitman's animated/cartoon anthology w...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "A ghost... A living dead... It's also a drink." James Bell in Jacques Tourneur's I Walked With A Zombie

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)WHITE LIGHTNING 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)IMPASSE 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

CINEMA OF BURT REYNOLDS

Most Popular Last Year