Writer-director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) has been mashing up genres since he was an amateur filmmaker in his teens; here he tweaks the caper film by replacing the familiar figure of the aging protagonist who’s in for one last score with a fresh-faced kid (Ansel Elgort) who’s in debt to a criminal mastermind (Kevin Spacey). The hero is music mad and skilled at the wheel, which befits a movie powered by fast cars, a throbbing soundtrack, syncopated dialogue, and balletic violence. Oozing menace as addicted bank robbers, Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm are all the more charismatic thanks to Bill Pope’s luscious noir photography. Credit Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss for the razor-sharp editing, and look for a cameo by director Walter Hill, whose 1978 thriller The Driver helped inspire this sleek exploitation flick.
Baby Driver
R • 1 hour 53 min • 2017
