#1 — some baby driver thoughts
spoilers for baby driver (2017) ahead!
so, i just finished watching baby driver (2017). today is friday, 28 april, 2023. funnily enough, my school is having a battle of the bands music competition today, and someone i know is competing. but i didn't want to go because i was afraid of getting a panic attack because of sensory issues.
so instead, i watched baby driver (2017), and i would like to think it was a very good substitute considering the music is just as good as a concert.
i'm actually laying in bed right now, jittering really bad. because the adrenaline from watching baby driver is still with me, inside my body with no outlet for it other than a bouncing leg. this always happens when i watch something i enjoy: adrenaline rushes through my body and i cant sit still. it's one way i can tell if i enjoyed a movie or not.
so, baby driver. the first 6 minutes in itself was absolutely amazing. that car chase was incredible. darren prescott deserves an oscar for coordinating those stunts because holy shit man! that was fucking insane! an amazing opening!! and all the car chase scenes afterwards are just as good! they're intense, skillful, incredible. the things they pull off in this movie are absolutely fucking amazing!
i really liked buddy (jon hamm), and i really hated bats (jamie foxx). both actors did an incredible job with these characters! i cant stress enough how much i loved buddy. god, the way he treats baby kindly only to turn on him after he fucks up the job. and then the way he becomes fucking deranged and unhinged once darling dies? ohhhh my fucking god his character is so good! i love him! the way bats was able to push his buttons in yhe diner scene and then, oh my god. seeing him standing there when buddy tried to leave for his road trip with debora? that was actually scary, cos i wasnt expecting him at all, i was totally expecting bats to be there. but then buddy, who until now was nice towards baby and joked around and had a friendly demeanor at the start, suddenly confronts baby in such a cold manner. it was so good. god. i really loved buddy, jon hamm did a wonderful job with this character.
and bats! wow... i hated him, he was such a dick and jamie foxx really nailed that part of him. he was so unfiltered and intense and violent. i liked how he was like a foil to baby - he's loud and makes his opinions known. violence and aggression is his first response to every bad situation he gets himself into and he's also constantly provoking others. on the other hand baby is quiet, doesn't try to fight, just goes along with things... until debora is involved, and he realises he wants out. and suddenly baby is changing, doing things of his own volition... it was really interesting to watch his character growth. i didn't expect him to kill bats at all, nor did i expect it when he actually shot buddy either.
as an aside, because the thought just occurred to me while i was writing: one thing i didn't expect was when buddy agreed with bats and said the cops fired first. because i thought buddy would easily throw bats under the rug, and hey, it was the truth - bats did fire first. but no, he lies and takes bats side. that was unexpected.
anyway. baby (ansel elgort) is interesting in his own right. he's a very good morally grey character - he's always trying to minimise the damage to innocent civilians and he's always concerned for them... i thought the montage of the witnesses taking the stand was an excellent highlight of this. he killed bats in cold blood, but... bats was already a killer. i didn't expect such violence from baby, but at the same time, i don't think he's a bad person. the way he tried to kill buddy too... i think to him, he feels justified in this violence because he's getting rid of bad people who pose a risk to society at large.
but at the same time, i find it interesting he called doc (kevin spacey) for help, and it was even more unexpected that doc actually did help him and debora, or at least he tried to. i didn't expect his soft spot for lovers, it was completely out of left field. to be completely honest, i have mixed feelings about doc and his characterisation. the entire time, he always felt cold and manipulative to me so it felt like him being sympathetic at the end was a bit undeserved. his relationship with baby.. it felta bit lackluster to me. doc does seem to value baby's opinion as he asks for baby's input about whether they should carry out the heist, but at the same time he threatened debora and joe... i just didn't understand why baby would ask him for help or why he would help either, it just felt very out of character for both of them. but well, doc dies a horrible violent death anyway, which honestly is unsurprising lol.
debora (lily james) and darling (eiza gonzalez) were both very sweet characters. i loved the scene of debora and baby at the diner - baby was unexpectedly very smooth! - and at the laundromat too. their romance was so charming and so sweet, and it was woven into the plot very well. i thought darling was honestly hilarious - i love her sense of humour as well as her vicious personality and ability to shoot the fuck out of cops. i wish she didn't have to die. i saw someone say that in the beginning, buddy and darling were almost like older siblings to baby and they really did treat him kindly and warmly at first. its a shame the job went completely south and they ended up becoming enemies.
i also think theres a very interesting contrast between buddy & darling and baby & debora (both b&ds! ...which reminds me of buddy daddies lol...) both men wanted to protect their lover, but one couple just wasn't fated to live... i find it interesting that debora so willingly helped kill buddy and come into this violent world of crime for baby. i didnt realise their love was that deep lol, especially since they weren't even officially dating as debora said in court... they'd really only been on one date so far at the fancy dinner place, unless you also include the laundromat.
one last character i'd like to mention is joe (cj jones), baby's foster dad. i really liked joe! and i thought it was sweet to have a deaf person in the film who was played by a deaf actor. i loved how he was aware of baby's criminal activity and he tried to stop him, but at the same time he understood he couldn't. i think this is best presented in the scene where baby leaves him at the nursing home with a recording explaining who he is. he doesn't want baby to leave, but he understands he can't stop him and all he says is good luck. he knows baby is a fundamentally good person in his heart and he trusts this won't change, so despite his disagreement with the path baby has been led down, he believes baby's goodness will prevail. and he's right! baby was put in an unfortunate position due to mistakes snowballing into uncontrollable situations, but in the end he always tried to minimise damage and ensure nobody got hurt unless they deserved it (bats & buddy). i think joe's trust in baby and his prevailing love for the son who he believes deserves a second chance at life is the most beautiful part of this film. debora & her relationship to baby is similar, but i felt that joe packed more punch and his relationship with baby had a much greater impact.
anyway, i think that's all i have to say about baby driver's characters. the music was fantastic, the car chase scenes were incredibly intense, the cinematography was excellent. just an overall amazing and enjoyable watch. if you're curious, i gave it 3.5/5 stars on letterboxd.