Baby Driver - Blu-ray

Movie: Baby (Ansel Elgort) is in debt to gangster Doc (Kevin Spacey), of all people. To pay it off, he must use his extraordinary talent to help Doc and his team pull off meticulously planned bank heists. Baby is an excellent driver who has yet to easily outrun any pursuers. Constantly accompanied by the appropriate music to cover his accident-induced tinnitus, Baby is a true artist at the wheel. Nothing can distract him, nothing gets him off track. That changes, however, when he meets waitress Debora (Lily James) and falls in love with her. For her, Baby wants to give up his illegal driving and finally live a quiet, normal life. But his feelings also make him vulnerable, and that leads him to make mistakes - and they have fatal consequences.

Those familiar with the films of Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) know two things about the filmmaker: he has a keen sense of humor, and he loves movies and music. His works are not just action, horror or fantasy comedies, but always endearing tributes to other filmmakers and their work. He now seems to have perfected this distinct love of pop culture and his sense of timing, wordplay and action. For Baby Driver is nearly perfect in these respects. There is probably no film in recent memory that delivers such perfect choreography between an extremely cool soundtrack and the superbly edited action sequences. This is not only great entertainment cinema, but also an impressive display of craftsmanship.

However, Wright does not strike in the same notch as the currently so popular Fast & Furious movies, but bows respectfully to much more elegant works like Bullitt with Steve McQueen. Even though this time around things are considerably more serious than in his earlier films, the fun doesn't come up short here either. Some extremely crisp dialogues and a small pinch of black humor raise the already very high entertainment value significantly. In addition, the film can benefit from the fact that the actors had quite obvious fun working on this fast-paced work. Jon Hamm, in particular, is just great.

A real surprise is Ansel Elgort, who you're more likely to recognize from teen movies like Fate Is a Mean Traitor. Elgort exudes a coolness here that you really wouldn't have thought he had at first. But he blends so perfectly with his character that you don't doubt for a second that he's such a perfect and reckless driver who (almost) never loses his cool.

Baby Driver proves that action cinema can be served up with elegance and smarts. The film is just plain fun, offering some really spectacular sequences, a few good laughs, but also a fair amount of suspense. Even if the finale is a bit too thick, there is a clear for this work with cult potential: absolutely worth seeing!!!

Picture + Sound: The absolutely clean picture of the Blu-ray is determined by the powerful color scheme, through which the film gets a very special look that fits well with the atmosphere of the action thriller. Contrasts are neatly matched and image sharpness is also at a very good level. The sound offers a powerful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that really lets it rip when the throttle is pressed or when there are gun battles. Very good!

Extras: The extensive bonus material starts with two audio commentaries. The first one is done by Edgar Wright alone. Enthusiastically, he talks about the making of the film, although he rarely directly addresses the scenes in progress. Things get a little more specific with the second commentary, which Wright recorded together with his cinematographer Bill Pope. However, if you want to opt for a commentary, you should definitely choose the solo track.

The program continues with eleven dropped and extended scenes (approx. 20:28 min.), with one sequence in particular featuring Baby as a pizza delivery boy being very amusing and worth watching. The film continues with a behind-the-scenes look consisting of several featurettes (approx. 45:15 min.). The short documentaries about the origins of the story, the stunts, the driving training, the music, the cast or the choreography can be played in one piece and make a very watchable making of documentary.

In addition, there are selected scenes as animatics (approx. 35:42 min.), four clips from the rehearsals, auditions or make-up tests (approx. 17:03 min.), a music video, the complete storyboard gallery, as well as several trailers and promo clips.

If that's not enough, you'll have to go for the Steel Book Edition with Bonus Disc, which includes a 30-minute Making of. This is quite nice, but offers no real added value to the other features.

Conclusion: Baby Driver is great fun! The film is perfectly choreographed, features fast-paced action, a good dose of humor, and a damn cool soundtrack. The Blu-ray tops it all off with a very good technical realization, as well as plenty of good extras. If you want more of that, you'll have to pick up the steelbook version with bonus disc, which also features an in-depth making of documentary. No question, this disc is a must have!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp