Baby Driver - New Edgar Wright Film

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

A couple of trailers have been released:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfoWyZvDCEc
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2z857RSfhk

As big a fan of Wright as I am, I must confess to not being convinced by this so far. The tone seems to fall awkwardly between thriller and comedy, without really being a comedy-thriller. Also, I don't see what the point of the music stuff is. As an excuse to have a bunch of pop tunes on the soundtrack, it seems particularly contrived (and it brings up memories of Blade Trinity, which is seldom welcome).

On the other hand, the action looks good, the cast is decent and I had a chuckle at the Michael Myers bit.

The first person to complain how hipster it is that he listens to an old iPod wins a prize[nb]The prize of being a bellend![/nb].

[madhair60]

Looks like it has the potential to be one of the worst films ever made. What a talentless wanker Wright's ended up being.

Also, unbearably hipster to feature an iPod Classic.

[popcorn]

Well, I think it looks cracking. Bright and fresh. Some of the driving stuff looks really cool without also looking hackneyed. I love the way the camera kind of glides with the car in a few shots.

[BlodwynPig]

Deffo for people 20 years younger than me, I guess they'll enjoy the tropes.

[Puce Moment]

Gash.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

I think it looks like good, shallow fun. I've been waiting for Wright to use his considerable talents as a dynamic visual stylist on something that isn't pretty much just a pastiche.

[Van Dammage]

Good cast and the stunt driving and action look solid (particularly the driving) which is a pleasant surprise. Looks like it could be decent.

[checkoutgirl]

What a talentless wanker Wright's ended up being.

I hate to agree with you but I can't not. It seems he was really talented as a young man with in my opinion Spaced/Fistful of Fingers being the pinnacle of his art. Then Shaun which I really liked, Hot Fuzz which I grew to like, Scott Pilgrim which I absolutely hated and Worlds End which I rewatched the other day just to check if it wasn't any good and I'm still convinced it isn't.

I don't know about this Baby film because I haven't seen it so who knows? It does look like yet another English director who shows early promise and then is shit a few years later (Wheatley).

[checkoutgirl]

Deffo for people 20 years younger than me, I guess they'll enjoy the tropes.

With this and Scott Pilgrim there definitely appears to be a trend in his films that seem to cater for small children and preteens. I don't know why but he looks like he's lost the ability to direct a film that both adults and children can enjoy.

[greenman]

Honestly I'v increasing tending towards the reverse, Shaun hasn't aged as well for me where as The Worlds End actually had some dramatic punch to it and indeed some effective action.

Behind everything else I'd say the action in Scot Pilgrim was generally excellent as well so I wouldn't be surprised if this is reasonably fun is probably pretty slight.

[kidsick5000]

Looks like fun. Enough of his own style without pandering to cornetto style banter.
If that's just a taste of the driving action, it looks like it could be thrilling in all the right places.
Plus, Lily James. Every one needs more Lily James

[Serge]

I was just about to say my major problem with this is that it seems to feature Lily James!

That and it looked so generic. If you'd shown it to me with his name taken off and asked me to guess the director, I wouldn't have been able to.

[Mango Chimes]

That main guy seems a poor casting choice.

[kidsick5000]

That and it looked so generic. If you'd shown it to me with his name taken off and asked me to guess the director, I wouldn't have been able to.

Really? There are enough fast cut plan view shots to say it's Edgar Wright.

[Custard]

I don't even know who Lily James is, and have had to Google her

Do I win £5?

Dunno what's hipster about an iPod Classic, though. They're still lovely things. LOVELY

[phantom_power]

I imagine as he wrote and directed this and left Ant Man because he was too restricted then I doubt this will be bland. The trailer has been made to appeal to the Fast and Furious audience but I am willing to bet there is more to it than that. The trailer didn't really grab me but as I have loved everything Wright has done to this point then I trust that this won't let me down.

Edit: Actually that second trailer was a lot better and showed more of the humour I imagine will be in the film. I particularly like the "position taken" bit. There were also more flashes of Wright's visual style

[mothman]

There has to be more to this than a lot of good car chases. If Wright turns out to be a good car chase director then he can just fuck off and do a Fast & Furious instalment, and give up any notion of being a "name," auteur director.

[Wet Blanket]

Looks a bit puerile to me but I might be persuaded to see it if there's lots of John Hamm. Reckon it'll be a minor box office disappointment that becomes a cult hit with the sort of seriously cool people who describe themselves as 'a total geek' on Tinder.

[Brundle-Fly]

That first trailer looks great fun. I'm in.

And old enough to not register the appearance of an iPod classic as some kind of hipster in-joke.

[Small Man Big Horse]

That and it looked so generic. If you'd shown it to me with his name taken off and asked me to guess the director, I wouldn't have been able to.

I felt the same way. I like Wright but this looks bland, and from the trailer not that much better than the "Phwoar Guns Gangsters Birds" straight to dvd movies you get these days, bar the impressive cast. But as mentioned, I'm fond of Wright, so I hope it turns out to be much better than it looks.

[Neomod]

That main guy seems a poor casting choice.

Yeah, he does seem to be a charisma vacuum doesn't he.

I think i'll give it a miss.

[BlodwynPig]

I was just about to say my major problem with this is that it seems to feature Lily James!

That and it looked so generic. If you'd shown it to me with his name taken off and asked me to guess the director, I wouldn't have been able to.

Yes. Very very generic - sharp, sassy, shit.

[BlodwynPig]

There has to be more to this than a lot of good car chases. If Wright turns out to be a good car chase director then he can just fuck off and do a Fast & Furious instalment, and give up any notion of being a "name," auteur director.

Or just direct an episode of Top Gear

[BlodwynPig]

ooooh a car chase....oooh look at that spin, look at the glide....look its James Corden in a shit Confused.com advert.

[popcorn]

Christ, what a rum bunch of boring grandads you lot are. I'm pre-emptively giving this 10/10. They can put this on the poster: "Trailer is miles better than The Godfather (boring film imo) - popcorn"

[BlodwynPig]

Christ, what a rum bunch of boring grandads you lot are. I'm pre-emptively giving this 10/10. They can put this on the poster: "Trailer is miles better than The Godfather (boring film imo) - popcorn"

Well I sincerely hope you enjoy this. I hope its a successful outing to your local multiplex cinema.

[Glebe]

Hmmm, I dunno. Look's a bit uninspired to me, by Edgar Wright's standards. The Mike Myers mask gag is funny, but it sticks out amid the rest of the suprizingly humourless antics. Nice to see Flea in movies again though.

[Dr Syntax Head]

I have 2 ipod classics, one for spare because they don't make 'em anymore. How far along the hipster scale does that get me?

Look forward to this though, also a fan of Ed Wright. And for me Jon Hamm is a guarantee of quality. We'll see

[DocDaneeka]

Wish this was a sequel to Baby's Day out and was really about a baby driving. We all know Edgar Wright loves his fillums, he must have chosen this title just to disappoint people who would love a knockabout family comedy about a driving infant.

[Shit Good Nose]

Bright and fresh.

Really?

You've seen Drive and (The) Driver, right?

Cos this looks like a light hearted lazy rehash of both (and Drive itself was in part a rehash of Driver).


Like others, I'm quite fond of Wright generally, but I absolutely hated The World's End and Scott Pilgrim.  But, as I said in another thread (which, if memory serves, was about Scott Pilgrim), I still think his best film overall is Fistful of Fingers, and the absolute pinnacle of his career being that three year period when he did Is It Bill Bailey?, Alexei Sayle's Merry Go Round, and Spaced.  Those three alone pretty much excuse him from any subsequent horrors I guess.