- OUT ON DVD THIS MONTH -
BABY DRIVER
In 1982 Blade Runner changed cinema forever. It set the benchmark for dystopian near- future sci-fi, and has matured like a fine wine, whilst later attempts to achieve the same thing have aged like a tray of plums in the sun. If you want proof, watch Blade Runner, then watch Total Recall (the Arnie one) which is nearly a decade younger, also based on a Philip K Dick story and set in the same universe. Ten tell me which one looks like it was made yesterday, and which one looks like a fibreglass moonrock nightmare. It’s not just the set design which continues to blow me away, either. Te script, the cinematography, the acting, the Vangelis
soundtrack...now, 35 years after the original, there’s a sequel.
As I’m sure you all remember, Blade Runners are cops who hunt down and destroy rogue replicants (human-esque androids) who run amok in a state of existential crisis. Well, it looks like they still haven’t worked the bugs out, as we again
follow Officer K (Ryan Gosling), a Blade Runner, as he investigates a case that leads him to former BR Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford). Whatever happens, the one thing I’m certain of is that it will mostly happen in foggy, poorly lit back alleys in the rain. Noir-tastic.
I’m conflicted. On the one hand Director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) is not only accomplished but stated that he didn’t want to do it until he read the script (written by original line-penner Hampton Fancher) which he has described as “one of the best” he’s ever read. Which hopefully means that it’s as slick and quotable as the original. Tere are also dangers, however. Firstly, there was a question left open at the end of the original movie that fans have debated for years. Well, that’s been answered straight away. And it’s not that it is or isn’t the “right” answer, it’s just that now there is an answer, there’s no more debate. So there is a very real danger of “demystifying” some other elements of the original. So, will this be a repli-can’t or a repli-can? See it on the 6th to find out.
SMILEY 30 / OCT-NOV 2017 /
OUTLINEONLINE.CO.UK 30 / OCT/NOV 2017 /
OUTLINEONLINE.CO.UK
Have you ever listened to a song and imagined a scene that plays out in time with music? I know I have, and director Edgar Wright obviously has. Luckily there are people in the world that give Edgar Wright money to make what is in his head. Baby Driver tells the tale of Baby (Ansel Elgort), a talented getaway driver that has been coerced into working for crime boss Doc (Kevin Spacey) in a series of daring heists. Nearing the end of his debt to Doc, with tensions running high within the crew and a new romance forming with waitress Debora (Lily James), can Baby pull off one final heist with his hands and conscience clean as just the driver?
To drown out the tinnitus that he’s had since a childhood accident, Baby listens to a variety of songs on a selection of iPods bringing the soundtrack into the film in a similar way to Guardians of the Galaxy. But what Baby Driver does differently is that the scenes play with the same beats and rhythms as the music. Everything from the actor’s choreography to the story beats to the editing, is all in time with the melodies and
rhythms of the songs.
Without the musical gimmick, Baby Driver would still stand up as a fun and functional action comedy, but the way that it all works together with story, soundtrack and editing all blurring at the edges and fusing into one cohesive whole elevates it to another level.
Edgar Wright should be very proud of his new baby.
DREW
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