Car trouble

Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver is an action, heist, car-chase film that is said to reinvent the action, heist, car-chase film. But as you can’t have an action, heist, car-chase film without action, heists and car chases, you may wish to ask yourself: how much do I like action, heist, car-chase films in the first instance? And that’s the bottom line, I suppose.

This action, heist, car-chase film is also about the soundtrack, as the story is told through the… ears? of Baby (Ansel Elgort), a getaway driver who doesn’t just enjoy music, but needs it. He rarely takes his earbuds out. He can’t perform unless he’s listening to Blur, Beck, the Beach Boys, T. Rex, the Commodores. He has a back story: orphaned in a car crash, he’s suffered from tinnitus ever since, and only music can drown out the constant ringing. He is a good boy, we are given to understand, somewhat repetitively and heavy-handedly — he sure does love his deaf old foster father (CJ Jones) — who has fallen in with a bad lot. He owes a debt to Doc (Kevin Spacey), the crime kingpin who arranges the heists and puts the crews together.

The film opens with Baby parked outside a bank, listening to Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s ‘Bellbottoms’ as the bank is being robbed. When the gang jumps back into the car, he pumps up the volume and we’re ready for car chase no. 1. It’s an old-school car chase. No CGI. And it’s a humdinger. Tyres screech. Umpteen police cars are thwarted. But, again, you may want to ask yourself: how much do I like car chases in the first instance? And: is blaring pop music going to make it OK?

Narratively, it’s a bit of an old chestnut: Baby longs to leave the criminal fraternity but has One More Job to perform for Doc.