Movie Review: high-octane 'Baby Driver' smashes together cars & beats

Since 2004's Shaun of the Dead, British director Edgar Wright has established himself as a firm favourite with millenials thanks to homages to the populist entertainments from the 1980s.

Baby Driver continues Wright's fanboy enthusiasm for action, gore and knowing winks to movie geeks.

Personally, I find Wright to be a little tiresome but perhaps I'm just an old, pretentious fart who doesn't know how to have a good time at the movies any more.

Here Wright is paying particular tribute to Walter Hill's classic neo-noir, the Ryan O'Neal-starring The Driver, but unlike a film like Nicholas Winden Refn's Drive, for Wright it's all about the screech of tyres, the soundtrack, the impossible gunplay and the gory finale rather than any existential musing.

Our hero, Baby (Ansel Elgort), is an unwilling getaway driver for heist mastermind Doc (Kevin Spacey), working off a debt while looking after his deaf foster father Joseph (CJ Jones).

Baby has his eccentricities, most notably his constant need to have music playing to drown out the unceasing ringing in his ears.

WATCH the trailer for Baby Driver

While several of Doc's accomplices are a little suspicious of the music junkie, none of them can deny that, as Doc assures them, the boy is a demon behind the wheel.

When Baby falls instantly in love with diner waitress Debora (Lily James), his determination to quit the bank-robbing business and drive off into the sunset is shot into overdrive.

As far as the plot goes that's about it, and essentially Wright's film is a high-octane smashing together of cars and jukeboxes. From its impressive, screeching opening setpiece set to the dirty, rousing guitar screeches of Bellbottom by the John Spencer Blues Explosion - Baby Driver makes its petrolhead, summer movie escapist intentions patently clear.

The soundtrack is certainly one of its talking points and it's hard not to get behind tracks like The Modern Lovers' Egyptian Reggae, Golden Earring's Radar Love and the Stones' Harlem Shuffle.

Spacey gets to exercise his hammy tendencies to full effect and a supporting cast that includes John Hamm, Eliza Gonzalez, Jamie Foxx, John Bernthal and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Flea all enjoy the opportunity to have a little fun.

It's certainly one of the smarter summer movies, but as always with Wright there's a lot of flash and not too much else.

WHAT OTHERS SAY

• Forget nitrous: This film is fuelled by iPod. But like Baby himself, the movie runs into plenty of obstacles. - Paul Asay, Plugged In

• Will resonate most with audiences that skew young, hip, and, like its helmer and its hero, more than a little obsessive. - Peter Debruge, Variety

• An awe-inspiring piece of filmmaking that plays out as a musical through the lens of an action-thriller. - Terri White, Empire

• This article was originally published in The Times.