Ash Ketchum

I generally liked BABY DRIVER and thought it added some fresh touches to timeworn material. I would love to have seen a crime movie with the Spacey, Hamm and Foxx characters in the foreground and Baby just a supporting character, but I don’t think that would have brought in the young audience the way this one has. I thought the finale dragged on way too long and was diminished by the tired “Jon Hamm can’t die” routine. It would have been more effective if both his and his wife’s characters had died first and Foxx had been the relentless one. He was much more menacing than Hamm and would have been way more believable coming at Baby more furiously. Still, it didn’t need to drag on that way. It should have been tidied up a lot quicker. I might have liked a more tragic ending, maybe one involving an act of self-sacrifice by the hero. Also, I would have liked Debora to have shown a little more resistance to going on the run. She behaves like too much of an accomplice. Not sure, however, if any of these variations would have completely satisfied me either, other than Foxx replacing Hamm in the final bits of action.

I was intrigued by the Baby-Doc (Spacey) backstory and can envision an alternate version of the screenplay where the film shows us that backstory and we see Baby steal Doc’s Mercedes and dump the “merch” and Doc taking him under his wing until the debt is paid off and then sincerely severing ties, amicably, and demanding that Baby get out of the business for good. Then it would be one of the crew, Hamm or Foxx, who decides to pressure Baby to do another job and holds his waitress girlfriend hostage to make him do it. Then Doc can show up out of the blue and come to Baby and Debora’s rescue at an opportune moment. Something like that. Just a possibility.

P.S. The two kids in the lead roles were very good and go a long way toward accounting for the film's surprise success. And neither, of course, is a household name. What happened here is that actor Elgort and Edgar Wright together crafted a world and then made that world believable. Wright's attempt to do that in SCOTT PILGRIM, with that particular cast, didn't work at all for me. I never believed that world so the whole thing fell flat for me. Here, even when it starts to get ridiculous, like when Baby embarks on a whirlwind display of parkour near the end, it's in keeping with the choreographed tone of the film up to that point so it doesn't take us out of the movie. All this makes me think that maybe Edgar Wright, perhaps working with this kid and another actress with similar physical gifts, would have made LA LA LAND work for me. Just a thought.

DJariya

Showtime has apparently acquired the cable rights for this. It was announced today on their Facebook page. It will be available next year obviously after it's DVD/BD run.

I'm interested in seeing this and it's cool that this has gotten many great reviews. I'll probably try next Monday or Tuesday on my next day off from work.

d2cheer

Saw this yesterday. Gave it 3 out of 5. Mainly for the stupid ending with Ham and the And the Jamie Fox character actually the whole team was nothing but cliche's and it really bothered me. It was little better than average overall. The driving was cool and how they incorporated the music and man was this loud in the theater!!

Great sounding for sure a reference blu for home theater. But I don't need to see it more than once.

mdc3000

I was shocked there was no mention of Pulp's Disco 2000.

Why So Blu?

Saw this yesterday and I loved it. I don't know why I thought the film was PG-13 -- there were some awesome kills and bloodshed throughout.

james2025a

Saw it last night. Pretty huge disappointment and kinda hated it by the end. Just felt like a huge cliche throughout. Edgar Wright, you are better than this.

islandclaws

Watched this yesterday and thought it was pretty good; leagues better than "World's End".

This is a film definitely too in love with itself. Elgort was an odd leading man and I can't decide how much I hate him.

Foxx was alright but, as said, cliche to the maxxx.

The ending was ridiculously overstuffed for a film that felt lighter for most of the run time.

Great use of music and editing was killer but this is likely a one-time watch for me.

candyrocket786

Fucking loved it. Fucking kick ass ride from beginning to end.

wendersfan

Started it twice, couldn't get more than 15 minutes into it either time. Pretty much everything I hate in a movie.

OldBoy

you don't like fun, wit, action, violence, style?

RichC2

Eh everybody has their own thing, Baby Driver has distinct stylization and dialog, you either get into it or it makes you cringe.

I've seen it 3 times now, and while it isn't perfect, it's still the most fun movie I've seen this year by a pretty wide margin. Probably the closest we're getting to a solid GTA movie anytime soon.

candyrocket786

Watched it twice already. Damn... wish I would've caught it in theater.

RichC2

Foxx's character seemed far more batshit crazy on the big screen for some reason. I may just have minor ADHD at home.

Rob V

Loved this movie... only behind IT as my favorite of the year.

jpcamb

try and give it another chance. I was really skeptical of the movie especially the opening credit sequence but by the 30min mark I was hooked. The wife and I saw it as the second feature at the drive in and were on the fence about leaving. In the end I was really glad we stuck with it. A few things were over the top (Jamie Foxx) but overall I was really pleasantly surprised.

Troy Stiffler

I can see why it would be hard to watch. Edgar Wright's movies have their own pacing, logic, plotting, style. They don't conform to ... anything. All around odd. For example, Hot Fuzz could have been trimmed and altered into a much more palatable movie. But it wasn't. It's strange and awkward. I enjoy it. But I can see how people would think it's clunky and tedious. End of the World even more so. Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver are his two most palatable movies.

TheMovieman

Good if not a bit overrated. I loved the opening chase sequence, from there it was merely an enjoyable flick but nothing especially memorable. 3.5/5

Funny, I'm the complete opposite of that opinion. Didn't care much for Free Fire. That one got old real fast.

funkyryno

As others observed, the movie starts out great but kind of loses steam toward the end. I feel like it would be a classic if it had maintained its momentum and originality through the whole film.

Loved the scene where he was dancing down the sidewalk and you could spot song lyrics in various places.

The soundtrack was awesome. Thought about buying the 2-disc vinyl version, but I'm not keen on spending $32 bucks for it. But it's tempting.

[email protected]

Absolutely! I was shocked when it turned out to be a different tune.

dom56

Might be he was doing The Punisher, my best guess.

Maxflier

Exactly how I felt about it as well.

Coral

Watched it last night and I enjoyed it for what it was - disposable entertainment.

The use of music in this was very well done, and there was good action in the driving scenes without being too overdone (ie. Fast and Furious).

I thought the ending went on too long with their constant confrontation with Hamm's character over and over. Also though Jamie Foxx's character was overdone. Was hoping to see Jon Bernthal's character come back to uncharacteristically assist Baby.

fumanstan

Finally got around to seeing it last night... and was a little overrated to me too. Interesting music choices and fun action sequences, but otherwise I didn't see anything too special about the movie. Baby and Debora are fun to watch together and very sweet, but I agree with others that Foxx or Hamm felt generic and uninteresting. Spacey didn't do much for me either, although I dug the scene with his nephew.

Although honestly, I've found that a lot of Edgar Wright's movies don't do much for me. Scott Pilgrim has been the only one I really loved.

Finisher

Same here but I really responded to Baby Driver although I think it was mostly because of Lily James.

RichC2

I was a huge fan of Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim. Vary levels of success with his other movies, really enjoyed Baby Driver though I agree with numerous criticisms.