'Baby Driver' Early Buzz: Edgar Wright Has Crafted A Dazzling Car Chase Musical
Last night, attendees of South by Southwest were lucky enough to see the world premiere of Baby Driver, the latest film from Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs the World director Edgar Wright. The first trailer debuted just before the screening was over (watch it along with a much different international trailer over here), and if you're somehow not convinced to see the movie, maybe the early buzz from the first reactions to the movie will help.
We have a round-up of some brief reactions to Baby Driver after the jump.
For those who may not be familiar with the film, here's the synopsis for Baby Driver:
A talented, young getaway driver (Ansel Elgort) relies on the beat of his personal soundtrack to be the best in the game. But after being coerced into working for a crime boss (Kevin Spacey), he must face the music when a doomed heist threatens his life, love and freedom.
Following the premiere, here are some of the Baby Driver reactions from Twitter last night, with the first coming from our own Jacob Hall (who will have a full review soon) and Devindra Hardawar, followed by some of the other press on hand down in Austin, Texas:
BABY DRIVER: Let's call this HEAT remade as a jukebox musical. Very different from Wright's previous movies and a total blast.
— Jacob Hall (@JacobSHall) March 12, 2017
And if you're a fan of Edgar Wright's long takes and music choices, Baby Driver will basically be your crack. Like a musical chase film
— Devindra Hardawar (@Devindra) March 12, 2017
Drive + La La Land – pretension = Baby Driver #SXSW
— Kristy Puchko (@KristyPuchko) March 12, 2017
Baby Driver is a wild ride and a hell of a good time. #SXSW
— Kristy Puchko (@KristyPuchko) March 12, 2017
And cheers to Ryan Heffington, whose choreography is dizzying and dazzling. Always. #babydriver #sxsw
— Kristy Puchko (@KristyPuchko) March 12, 2017
Baby Driver is fuckin' awesome. Edgar Wright made his own version of a movie musical except the choreography is car stunts and violence.
— Eric Vespe (@EricVespe) March 12, 2017
Without spoilers, I can say that one of my favorite parts about Baby Driver is that it constantly inverts expectation.
— Eric Vespe (@EricVespe) March 12, 2017
Also I have no idea how Ansel Elgort lost out on Young Han Solo. He channels early Harrison Ford in both looks and charm in Baby Driver.
— Eric Vespe (@EricVespe) March 12, 2017
BABY DRIVER is everything I never knew I needed. #SXSW audience losing their minds for it and it earns every bit of the love
— jen yamato (@jenyamato) March 12, 2017
BABY DRIVER is Edgar Wright's LA LA LAND: Every bit of its soundtrack is choreographed (by Ryan Heffington) to action and dialogue #SXSW
— jen yamato (@jenyamato) March 12, 2017
Elgort is great. Hamm is great. Spacey is great. Foxx is great. James is great. Already loved BABY DRIVER *before* the ATL Twins cameo #SXSW
— jen yamato (@jenyamato) March 12, 2017
BABY DRIVER takes the best chunks of 60s-90s music and cinema and mixes in a delicious Rocky Road; every bite better and better! Whew! #sxsw
— Aaron Morgan (@Aaron_Morgan) March 12, 2017
If you thought LA LA LAND rejuvenated the movie musical, wait until BABY DRIVER, which is like Busby Berkeley's GRAND THEFT AUTO. #SXSW
— erickohn (@erickohn) March 12, 2017
Edgar Wright's BABY DRIVER really is like nothing else, a gangster heist romance car musical. Energy at #sxsw premiere just through the roof
— Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) March 12, 2017
A. #BabyDriver kicks ass.
B. The #BabyDriver soundtrack kicks ass.
C. I don't think ass is going to recover for long, long time.#SXSW— William Bibbiani (@WilliamBibbiani) March 12, 2017
I'm not sure I agree with comparing BABY DRIVER to LA LA LAND. It's kinda like a musical, sure, but it isn't particularly like THAT musical.
— William Bibbiani (@WilliamBibbiani) March 12, 2017
Edgar Wright's BABY DRIVER is a film that matches the pulse of the best day you've ever lived! Incredible
— . (@headgeek666) March 12, 2017
BABY DRIVER is just non-fucking stop, it moves like nothing I've seen! Perfect SXSW film!!!
— . (@headgeek666) March 12, 2017
BABY DRIVER: A really fun, kick-ass, wild ride! #EdgarWright fans will go crazy! Awesome cast, amazing soundtrack, great car chases! #SXSW pic.twitter.com/6IG4ARH7df
— Scott Mantz 🖖 (@MovieMantz) March 12, 2017
BABY DRIVER is essentially a jukebox musical by way of Steve McQueen. #SXSW
— Matt Dentler (@MattDentler) March 12, 2017
BABY DRIVER is also a reminder that @edgarwright is one of the most refreshing directors working today. #SXSW
— Matt Dentler (@MattDentler) March 12, 2017
My heart's racing after #BabyDriver. Incredibly slick heist film. Soundtrack is so good you could call it Edgardians of the Galaxy. #SXSW pic.twitter.com/spYbjPTaMx
— Dan Casey (@DanCasey) March 12, 2017
.@edgarwright never disappoints. BABY DRIVER was a goddamn blast. Whole cast is great, especially @AnselElgort. #SXSW pic.twitter.com/TQRdBzJAQk
— Dan Casey (@DanCasey) March 12, 2017
Edgar Wright's BABY DRIVER really is like nothing else, a gangster heist romance car musical. Energy at #sxsw premiere just through the roof
— Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) March 12, 2017
#BabyDriver is great. The La La Land of car chase movies. @edgarwright's most ambitious and confident movie yet.
— Michael Roffman (@michaelroffman) March 12, 2017
BABY DRIVER is fantastic, an adrenaline fueled music-driven gem that gets faster & greater as it rides. The last quarter is tremendous#SXSW
— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) March 12, 2017
BABY DRIVER WAS SUCH A BADASS MOVIE #SXSW
— vivajennifer (@vivajennifer_) March 12, 2017
Woah Baby! @edgarwright brought BABY DRIVER to @sxsw and it did not disappoint. Great car chase scenes. Great soundtrack. #AMovieGuySXSW
— Leo Brady- AMovieGuy.com (@LeosAMovieGuy) March 12, 2017
Though it wasn't all big praise and hype. There was some dissension among the ranks:
Meanwhile, there are a few full Baby Driver reviews that are already online, including this one from Peter Debruge at Variety:
Like all Edgar Wright movies, "Baby Driver" is a blast, featuring wall-to-wall music and a surfeit of inspired ideas. But it's also something of a mess, blaring pop tunes of every sort as it lurches between rip-roaring car chases, colorful pre-caper banter, and a twee young-love subplot — to the extent that the movie will resonate most with audiences that skew young, hip, and, like its helmer and its hero (the latter played by baby-faced "The Fault in Our Stars" star Ansel Elgort), more than a little obsessive.
Wilson Webb at The Hollywood Reporter has a little more praise:
A movie-as-mixtape with few slots available for catch-your-breath downtempo tracks, Edgar Wright's rollicking Baby Driver is a Gone in 60 Seconds for the La La Land crowd, a True Romance that relishes the long wait before its young lovers can finally go on the lam. A crime-flick love story as Pop-conscious as Wright's earlier work but unironic about its romantic core, it will delight the director's fans but requires no film-geek certification...
Eric Vespe (aka Quint) at Ain't It Cool News had high expectations, and Edgar Wright exceeded them:
My expectations for Baby Driver were already through the roof so when I tell you that all I wanted to do was stand up and applaud the 113 minutes I just observed when the lights came back up you should know that feeling had to pass a bar set so high that it might as well be touching the ceiling.
Baby Driver is more polished and less crazy with his cuts and zooms than anything else that he's done, but it is also so thoroughly an Edgar Wright movie at the same time. His sense of humor, his understanding of character development and whip fast pacing are all on display, but in a slightly more grounded way.
You think you know how this movie's going to go. You think it's a "one last job" movie, but even if you're super film literate Wright knows more about movies than you do and he knows what you're expecting so he throws in a lot of curveballs. There are characters you love that become not quite so loveable and vice-versa. There are heist scenes you're pretty sure you have figured out, only to have them go off in different directions.
Michael Roffman at Consequence of Sound adds:
Wright orchestrates his action like it's being primed for a Technicolor musical, which is completely understandable given that he tagged performance artist, choreographer, and designer Ryan Heffington for the assist behind the scenes...Granted, there's always been a musicality to Wright's work, but it's never been to this scale and hardly at this volume. From beginning to end, Wright chews through dozens upon dozens of songs, making this seem like one long, epic music video...
***
For anyone who thought the trailer for Edgar Wright's Baby Driver looked conventional, the full reviews should help quell any worry they might have that the director has created something conventional. Plus, the consistent reference to the film as being a car chase movie musical has me the most excited. I can't wait to see how Edgar Wright uses music to drive the film, let alone every single action sequence. It doesn't seem like that's something which can be easily shown in the brief format of a movie trailer, but as we get closer to the August release date, we'll undoubtedly see a clip that better shows what's in store for us.
Baby Driver arrives in theaters late this summer on August 11.