BABY DRIVER

I find that writer/director Edgar Wright’s films tread a very fine line between being either exhilarating or annoying, depending on how his kinetic and ultra stylised approach lands with me. 

In the case of this 2017 film he raises the stakes even higher by making the main character, ‘Baby’, someone who is going to arouse strong feelings one way or the other.

I can easily imagine many viewers finding him as irritating as some of the characters in the film evidently do.

In my case I find the idea of someone who immerses himself in music inherently appealing (which no doubt says something about me). 

I can’t make up my mind whether the musical highlight is the exhilarating use of a song called ‘Hocus Pocus’ (by a Dutch band, Focus, who I was heavily into in the 1970s) during the aftermath of a heist gone wrong, or the hilarious use of Barry White’s 'Never, Never Gonna Give You Up', during a tense moment towards the end of the film.

But there's plenty to enjoy besides the music.

I’m not normally that into car chases per se but there’s a terrific sequence here where Baby (who is a getaway driver) has to escape the police, shot in a way which is both thrilling and visually stylish.

There’s also a charming romance between Baby and Lily James' diner waitress; and Jamie Foxx as a scarily psychotic gangster.

Best of all, John Hamm has a whale of a time as one half of a gun-toting couple.

It’s a blast from start to finish.

RATING: ✓✓ Good Times