The COARD: Baby Driver

The COARD duo has long awaited the arrival of Baby Driver. Partly because of our love for Jon Hamm (okay, mostly because of this), but also because the trailer sparked excitement. The cast was fantastic (did I mention Jon Hamm?) and the premise was highly enticing. Did Baby Driver live up to our expectations? Read on to get our full thoughts. Spoiler Alert: It totally freaking did.

Cody: Well, Roy, it's safe to say you got what you've been begging Hollywood for the last couple weeks. We both thought Baby Driver would be good. I don't think either of us thought it would be that good. I'm going to start with the obvious. The pace. Writer/director Edgar Wright deserves a boatload of credit here. It is so challenging to have a movie move this fast from beginning to end without coming across chaotic. It wasn't just nonstop action, either. There were moments of real depth of dialogue as well as some quality comedic relief. The amazing part is that those were usually the same moments. Hitting deep while still allowing your audience to laugh is an incredibly difficult balance to strike. Baby Driver did it organically throughout the whole experience. Meanwhile, all those pieces fit around some of the best action sequences I've seen in a long time. After it ended, I considered going to the restroom then walking back into the theater and sitting back down as if I "just arrived" for the next showing. So yea, I liked pretty much all of it. 

Roy: PEOPLE. IT'S HERE. IT'S FREAKING HERE! The cure for superhero fatigue. The salvation of summer movies. Remember 10 years ago when we subjected ourselves to Mandy Moore and sharks? Baby Driver makes our last review feel like a decade has passed. I sat through this movie and immediately tried to figure out when my next viewing could be. Ok, I'm gushing. Let's focus. Where to begin? I suppose we should start at the beginning. Baby Driver starts with immediate action. One of the things that I loved most about this film was they used almost no CGI to pull off the stunts. Darrin Prescott explained how they tried to do everything in camera. So when you see Baby's car do something that defies all logic, that means some crazy talented stunt driver really made the car actually do that, and it was captured on film, and then synced it up to music. That's right. You heard me.  If there is one thing that might be cooler than the driving in this movie, it's the music. Every time a song was paired with a moment in the movie it fit perfectly. Edgar Wright dusted off many forgotten gems in the music world and put them on full display, while introducing us to new genres like "Egyptian Reggae." I'm stepping on Cody's toes a little here. He's probably irritated that I was the first one to bring up a movie's use of music. I will now give him the proverbial dance floor. 

You rob to support a drug habit.
I do drugs to support a robbery habit.
-Bats

Cody: Well this was clearly a special case of music. Any actual scoring in the soundtrack by far took a back seat to whatever was playing on Baby's iPod. Something I particularly liked about the musical choices was the timing. The characters in the film would literally talk about why a particular song was chosen for a particular moment. It wasn't really breaking the fourth wall, but it was a really cool insight into the director's choices. So wow, we've made it this far in without mentioning the people who were actually on screen. That's a testament to a supremely well made movie. But let it be known, each and every actor was superb. I'm going to focus in on Jamie Foxx. For me, he was a notch above the rest of the crew, which I promise is saying a lot given everyone else's performances. I doubt it actually happens because politics and such, but his performance was strong enough for a best supporting actor nod at the Oscar's. He owned his entirely crazy character. Bravo, Jamie.

Roy: The best compliment I can give Foxx on his performance is that I completely forgot I was watching Jamie Foxx. His performance really was that good. And as good as he was, everyone in this film held their own, especially the moments between Hamm and Foxx (in what I am calling the Battle Of The Unnecessary Double Consonants!) I'm starting a petition and I expect all of you to sign it. From now until forever, Jon Hamm should only be allowed to play characters that are a-holes. I have no idea what he is really like. Everything I have read or seen, people talk about how nice he is. But there is a quality about him. He knows how to dance on that line that makes you love and hate his characters all at the same time. While his character Buddy is vastly different from Don Draper, they share that quality. I should also mention Ansel Elgort and Lily James. Both are relative newcomers. Both have definitely starred in at least one other movie that you heard of (The Fault In Our Stars  and Cinderella , respectively). Both played their parts to perfection. As wonderful as all of the moving pieces were in this film, the core, it's heart and soul belong to the duo of Elgort and James. They took a fun action movie and injected it with real emotion. 

 

Spoiler alert, we're now going to continue gushing over how awesome this movie is! There will just be actual plot details now, so the reader assumes all risks when proceeding.

Cody: My favorite part of the movie was all of it. Roy?

Roy: As much as I want to crush you for wussing out on your opening paragraph I can't really blame you. I sat and stared at the screen for a solid few minutes trying to decide where to begin revealing spoilers. As much as I loved the music and how the story unfolded in front of our eyes, the car stuff was arguably the best thing about this movie. I'm a car nerd. Not a huge one. But enough of one to notice how truly remarkable all of these stunts were. There is nothing quite like a perfectly executed Rockford Turn. Baby used a car for everything. Even killing Bats, who very much needed to be killed. When the crew was about to pull a bank job and the camera lingered on a clustered set of rebar hanging off the back of a flatbed truck it was clear someone was going to die a very painful death. It was even more satisfying then I thought possible to see that it happened to Foxx's character. And once again, it was done to music. Baby moved down the street to music, did everything to music. It was so well done beginning to end. Holy crap I loved this movie.

Cody: Well it's simply impossible to try to narrow down some singular moments of the movie when the entire thing was fun from start to finish. Alas. I shall go back to music. The fact that Baby had tinnitus was a great addition to provide context to the constant use of music. It wasn't necessary, but it added to his character and therefore to the overall character of the film. A smaller side piece of this was his deaf foster father. Two hearing impaired individuals who are bonded by a love of music one of them needs to function and the other can't even hear. Their dynamic was easy and deep. All of this provided another emotional layer to the movie. And while we're on the subject of music, I just want it out there on the record that the climactic chase scene was absolutely stupendous. Starting from Baby

Music and movie fused as one seamless unit

causing Bats' brutal demise, the action and music synced so perfectly, I could spend the better part of a day watching it on a loop. Speaking of, I wonder if anybody has put that up on YouTube yet? I'll see everybody later..

Roy: From the time we started this review, until the moment we finished it I have had the privilege to see this movie twice. I picked up so much more the second time. My first viewing I was bombarded with fun and the coolness factor of this movie. The second viewing I truly began to understand how remarkable this film is. There is almost constant music, and I mean that. You might think that takes away from the film. It doesn't. Anytime there isn't music there is a slight ringing underneath what is going on, and it doesn't go away until more music is played. Wright uses this as an excellent device to keep us alongside Baby the entire movie, experiencing his viewpoint. Lastly, every gunshot in this movie was fired to the beat of whatever song was playing during the action sequence. It wasn't just how Baby moved that was connected to music. Quite literally, everything in the movie was connected to music. Everyone should see this movie because it represents everything a movie can be. Unique. Thrilling. Fun. Intense. Unique. Yes I know I said unique twice. Because no one has ever made a movie like this before. It was masterfully done.