Baby Driver

As far as elevator pitches go, 'a car chase movie where the action is synced to its soundtrack' is a pretty great one, especially when it's coming from none other than Edgar Wright himself. As the man behind the brilliant Scott Pilgrim vs. The World it's clear that Wright is maybe the most inventive and original writer/director working today, and with a pitch that great I was sure that as with his previous films, his latest would be another film I'd love dearly - so why is it that Baby Driver left me slightly cold?

It's something I've been pondering since seeing the film, and ultimately I think it comes down to a question of individual taste rather than objective quality. Baby Driver is just as tightly-crafted as any of Wright's previous movies, utilising his almost trademark fast-paced editing style in combination with a non-stop soundtrack and some neat choreography to create something that feels totally unique, stylistically - unfortunately, it's all in service of characters and a story that I simply couldn't force myself care about, and all the style in the world can't make up for that.

The biggest problem with the film's fairly straight forward narrative is that it relies on us caring about Baby and his relationship with Deborah without ever doing the work to make that happen. In truth, I was surprised by just how bland Baby is as a protagonist - Wright's films have always been full of vibrant, interesting characters with distinctive personalities, but Baby is little more than a generic, capable nice guy whose defining personality trait is that he likes music. Even with actor Ansel Elgort being as charming as possible, Baby's lack of depth and definable personality makes it difficult to really invest in the character, and as such the action sequences, while incredibly well-made on a technical level, lack the engagement and stakes that they could and should have had.

This is Wright's first film as the sole credited writer, and I have to wonder if that has anything to do with Baby Driver's problems. His direction here is as brilliant as ever, but the script simply is neither as tight nor as funny as his previous movies, indicating to me that he could well be a writer that needs a partner to bounce ideas off of to get the best results. That's not to say that Baby Driver isn't funny at times - there are multiple laugh-out loud moments, including a great scene where Baby cases a Post Office with an unlikely ally - but the magnitude and frequency of gags is a long way away from other Wright classics like Hot Fuzz, and that's only to the films detriment.

In fairness to Baby Driver, I'm sure I'd like it more upon re-watching it free from the dizzying expectations I had initially - but for now, it's a film that I can only appreciate for it's craft and it's soundtrack rather than genuinely like.