'Baby Driver' REVIEW: A fast, funny and musically inventive caper film

'Baby Driver' is the latest film from director Edgar Wright who I love from directing awesome films such as 'Shaun of the Dead', 'Hot Fuzz', 'The World's End' and 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World'. Edgar Wright is one of those directors I admire for having a unique and specific vision when it comes to his films, even those he's only tangentially associated with. The point is this guy can make any film look so good even if his style outweighs the substance and he pretty much does it again with this one.

The plot of the film is that it's about young partially deaf getaway driver named Baby (played by Ansel Elgort) who often gets hired by Doc (played by Kevin Spacey) to do jobs for him by help bank robbers get away when needed while listening to some old fashioned tunes with his earphones. The film also stars Jon Hamm, Eiza Eiza González and Jamie Foxx as the bank robbers Buddy, Darling and Bats who need Baby for one last bank heist. While that's going on, Baby finds a love interest in the waitress Debora (played by Lily James) and wants to run away with her leaving the life of crime. Now, I know what some of you are thinking : 'This plot awfully sounds very familiar, where have I seen it from?'. Well that's because it's heavily inspired plot-wise from the film Drive (2011) starring Ryan Gosling. However, this newest film does manage to breath fresh new life into that story so that it feels distinctive as I was watching it.

Like I said before, what this film has going over other films of this summer is that it certainly has a fast-paced style that is different and could only come from the mind of Edgar Wright. For a film that has the premise of a getaway driver helping out in heists, the driving sequences better be damn good and they definitely are. All the driving sequences with Baby in the front seat are slick, fast and most importantly easy to follow, but they're also not generic either. The film uses long wide shots and close-up to convey to the viewer that what they are watching is seemingly real, which heightens the tension for me. Ansel Elgort does a terrific job as a charismatic, thoughtful and hugely likable main lead as Baby. After seeing him in movies like The Fault in Our Stars (2014) and Divergent (2014), I never thought he'd ever break-out in a role as versatile as this where he's involved with cars, gun fights and chase sequences . What I think is another huge asset to the film is it's soundtrack. The film most of the time does play out like a pseudo musical with scene that match beat-by-beat to what he's listening to. I would most surely get the soundtrack for this film soon. The film is also funny throughout as usual with all Edgar Wright films. The romance between Ansel Elgort and Lily James's characters was also surprising touching and was rooting for them the entire time.

Main issues with the film is that comparatively to Edgar Wrights other films, I'd say this does rank relatively low in terms of memorability and comedy. I'm just not too sure that in five years from now if I'm going to be talking about this film as much as I would with Edgar Wrights other films. While this film also had sufficient laughs, I felt that I laughed more and harder at Edgar Wrights previous entries. The film also didn't grab me much emotionally as much in comparison either as this film mainly is a vehicle for impressive car chase sequences.

If you are a massive fan of Edgar Wright, then you are most definitely going to get your money's worth here. But, if you aren't you're still going to have a good time leaving the theater. It has extraordinary action sequences with laughs throughout and a killer soundtrack that will entertain viewers of all generations to come, but I feel this is my least favorite Edgar Wright film so far. However, it's still a damn good time.

'Baby Driver' gets a B+