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A young getaway driver's playlist helps him stay in the fast lane in Edgar Wright's exhilarating car-chase thriller musical
Star Rating: 5 stars
After wisely walking away from the car crash of Marvel's 2015 film Ant-Man, Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright is back in the fast lane with his most thrillingly cinematic romp. A romantic musical disguised as a car-chase thriller, Baby Driver combines the over-cranked action fantasies of Hot Fuzz with the poptastic sensibilities of Scott Pilgrim vs the World. At its centre is Ansel Elgort's eponymous getaway driver, who uses earphones to drown out the "hum-in-the-drum" of tinnitus (the result of a childhood accident) and orchestrates his life to carefully chosen iPod playlists. Whether he's burning rubber or fixing a peanut butter sandwich ("right up to the edges"), this former joyrider spins his wheels and records with the same infectious exuberance. Think An American in Paris meets The French Connection, or Walter Hill's The Driver as remade by Baz Luhrmann -- it really is that much of a blast.
Accidentally indebted to smooth criminal Doc (Kevin Spacey), Baby is always "one more job" away from freedom. At home he cares for foster father Joseph (CJ Jones), who listens to music with his...