2 months down, a month and a half to go.
Edgar Wright’s kinetic sense of aesthetics in his
storytelling has made him an easily recognized name to be reckoned with in
cinema.
When applied to the right story, his creative visual flair
and outside of the box editing can lead to the most impactful and subversive
works of high brow popcorn entertainment imaginable. However, as flashy and
entertaining as that sense of style is, it is ultimately reliant on the entire
film working in perfect synergy to equal and surpass the sum of its parts; if
one piece of the equation falls out of place, the entire venture begins to feel
lopsided.
Whether or not the final quality of the movie itself
vindicates its own sloppiness is debatable but when the tight editing and
visual direction appear to have a clearer grasp on where the film intends to be
going than the actual screenplay, that’s when you get “Baby Driver,” a
generally entertaining but ultimately lacking coming of age romantic crime
drama that aspires to be something excellent but can’t quite cash the check
when push comes to shove.
The titular character going by the name of Baby, played by
Ansel Elgort, is a getaway driver for an organized crime group operated by
Kevin Spacey. As the realities of the job come crashing down on him after
falling in love, he reluctantly rides the gig out for one final job in order to
set himself, his girlfriend and his foster father up for a decent future.
The setup is novel and all of its components feel
refreshingly three dimensional, coming together in a strong and stylish first act
composed of uniquely choreographed car chases conforming to a musical gimmick
that lends a uniqueness to Elgort’s subdued charm, as he progresses through
daily life with characters that feel like real people with lengthy and complex
histories brought to life by a talented cast of top tier character actors.
Where “Baby Driver” unfortunately fumbles is in follow through.
After Baby makes the decision to get out of the criminal enterprise, his
reluctance to submit to his employers for a special request job in order to
protect his loved ones leads to a shift by the halfway mark that sadly
positions him as a more passive and reactive character than the engaging
protagonist that the audience had been following up to that point.
This might not have been a bad idea in theory but as the
story itself begins to focus more on the supporting cast’s connection to an
escalating heist than Baby’s apparent apprehensive involvement that’s later
contradicted by his actions that set the movie’s climax into motion, the film
just starts to get muddled down with a lot of distracting details and
flourishes that don’t help what was already a visually and emotionally engaging
plot. If anything, the random action and wonky character play that comes about
almost had me thinking that I missed a reel of the movie despite having stayed
in front of the screen the entire time.
The film’s ultimate sin however is that this muddled
storytelling that dampens the movies impact unfortunately unfolds across a back
half of the movie that begins to feel so dragged out and exhausting, that you
may find yourself wishing the movie would cut off by the time that it still has
a good 25 minutes to go.
That’s not to say that “Baby Driver” is a total loss; the
first act of the movie is some of the best filmmaking that I’ve seen all year
and there’s plenty of visual creativity and action punctuated by drama to make
for a fun and pulled back summer popcorn flick.
There’s just an undeniable sadness to seeing a movie about
forward momentum really swing for the fences and completely sputter out before
its last third even kicks off. Although, in an age of 20 year old “ID4” sequels
and “Mummy” cinematic universes nobody asked for, I'll give it credit for at least trying to not mistake ingenuity with financial resources.
7 Fast out of 10 Furious
2 months into a summer that has been book ended by solid
flicks serving to sandwich the same excessive and derivative slop as usual and
the fact that the best film I’ve seen all season is one that I didn’t even have
to leave my home to see should give Hollywood some major pause for thought
about its current course.
While 2014’s “Snowpiercer” garnered a certain acclaim that
netted it a proper release distinct from the digital distribution plan of its home
release, “Okja” has landed on Netflix to the general public and is quite possibly
the best argument for home media releasing being the wave of the future.
Director Bong Joon-Ho tells the story of a child and their
pet monster, in this case a young Korean girl and her genetically engineered
super pig due for corporate meat slaughtering with the same sense of genre
wonder and dark humor that has made him so famous.
Being an international production, the film is loaded with
A-list and highly prolific character actors, but the central focus on the
narrative remains on the relationship between the farm girl Mija and the
titular Okja, with whom she has spent over 10 years of her life with, keeps the
movie anchored in an almost indie level intimacy bolstered by the cast’s excellent
performances that elevate it to prime blockbuster status where appropriate.
That central element of the relationship however becomes the
glue that truly binds the entire production together. The effects that bring
Okja to life lay somewhere between a certain level of photorealism and
stylization that emphasizes the creatures ability to act, emote, and react to
the world around it like a living thing and strongly enhances the bond that it
shares with Mija thanks to Ahn Seo-Hyun great performance of a child old enough
to figure out how to navigate the world but still singularly focused on the
goal of rescuing her friend, consequences be damned.
That relationship really punctuates the first half of the
film which does have the unfortunate side effect of dampening the second half.
“Okja” makes a lot of social commentary about the hypocrisy
of politics, activism, and big business as a punch line for its own cynical
sense of humor and while the comedy benefits from solid writing and a strong
cast performances, the last hour of the film does come off as having a bit of a
lack of strong focus.
The overall impact the film leaves you with however feels
almost akin to something of a modern day Grimm’s Fairytale, with the
contrasting tones of the films subplots involving a pure yet childish pursuit
of naiveté clashing with pacifist environmental terrorism clashing with
capitalist agenda playing off of one another to tell a uniquely whimsical tale
in a very real world.
We’re about half way through the summer now and I have a
hard time believing that I’m gonna see anything much better than “Okja” this
season.
8 Strips of Super Bacon out of 10
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!
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