Spoilers, obviously.

Back in 2003 the world got it’s first taste of Edgar Wrights

‘Baby Driver’. In a music video for the band Mint Royale

Wright laid out what would turn out to be his “proof of

concept” piece for the smash hit film.

(You can view that video here :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfrcZsKcVxU )

The first thing you’ll notice about that music video is

Wrights use of sound fx as a percussive element that binds

the visuals with the soundtrack – A stylised technique which

forms the backbone of the edits in ‘Baby Driver’: Every door slam, traffic light change, collision and gun-shot syncs up perfectly and painstakingly with the action on screen. (If you want to get right into the nitty gritty of this technique go back and watch any scene that involves a gun fight – you’ll notice that the sounds have been edited for pop and duration to make the percussive aspect stand out even more………..NEEEERRRRRD!)

The opening sequence to the film feels like a 5-star pursuit

on ‘Grand Theft Auto’. We’re introduced to the quirky nature

of our protagonist (Baby, played by Ansel Elgort) and his

affinity for music. We are informed early on that Baby

suffers from Tinnitis and so utilises music to drown out the

constant and insanity-inducing ringing in his ears. Keen

listeners in the audience will have noticed a similar high

pitched tone in the few scenes and sequences where there is

no music playing – a nice touch which makes the film all the

more immersive. This makes sense as we spend 98% of the film

following Baby.

If you’ve ever seen an Edgar Wright film you’ll know what to

expect and this film is no different. The attention to

detail that he manages to present in his films is

unbridaled. With this film he made some of these aspects

more obvious, such as the music/action sequencing and

his stunning use of colour coding within the

characters wardrobe, lighting and set design. Blatantly

literal foreshadowing also emerges from Edgar’s bag of

tricks, both visually and audibly.

The strength of Wrights films for me always lie in his

editing techniques – ‘Shaun Of the Dead’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’

being great examples of this – fast cuts and zooms that tell

a sequence of events in a matter of seconds. Even in

episodes of ‘Spaced’ it is presented in an almost comic book

style which overtime mutated and grew into the editing we

see on ‘Scott Pilgrim’.

‘Baby Driver’ borrows heavily from Walter Hill’s ‘The

Driver’ (the release date of which appears in the film as

Baby’s prison jumpsuit number) but presents the idea as an

almost more stylish Tarantino-esque heist movie. His critics

have commented in the past that he is very much a “style

over substance” director but i think it’s hard to disagree that

his writing-chops pick up where that leaves off.

Do yourself a favour – ‘Baby Driver’.

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Baby Driver is available on DVD, and it’s soundtrack is also available HERE

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