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Baby Driver is the best action film of 2017

Z

Z3M0G

Member
DeathoftheEndless said:
The opening car chase is excellent. It never reaches that high again. John Wick: Chapter 2 is best action movie of the year by far.
Click to expand...

Actually yah... now that you think about it. The movie kind of blows its load in the first scene...

TheXfactor said:
How did this thread go from one of the best if not the best films of 2017 to people disliking it? lol
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I think GAF set my expectations way too high... but I did see many people rank it maybe 3rd or 4th of his best movies, so I knew going in it wasn't going to be the best thing ever.
 
7

7Th

Member
Felt like Wright got burned out after the first 30 minutes, and I'm not talking just about the action scenes.
 
H

hotcyder

Member
Dunno why GAF is so hard on this film.

Some of the most fun I had at the cinema this year - definitely the best film that Edgar Wright has ever done. Not weighed down by being overly nerdy and english, or just overly nerdy like Scott Pilgrim was.

All the heists were well constructed, the set-pieces were cool, the music stuff was well choreographed, the characters didn't feel realistic but they were interesting. Plot is about as shallow as sink water but that kind of seemed like what they were going for - the moment to moment elevated the material.

Really not sure what there wasn't to like.
 
V

Vault Dweller 111

Member
John Wick 2 was much better, especially if we are going purely by action.

I enjoyed Baby Driver a lot but I honestly expected Edgar Wright to go more crazy with the idea. It seemed restrained for him.
 
N

Net_Wrecker

Member
TheXfactor said:
How did this thread go from one of the best if not the best films of 2017 to people disliking it? lol
Click to expand...

Edgar Wright fans are so high on his stuff that people who don't like the movies tend to really make sure you know they don't like the movies. That's how it goes with critical darling creatives like this.


As a big Edgar Wright fan, I thought Baby Driver was just ok when I saw it. I'll rewatch it later this year, but I'm not in a big rush to do so. John Wick 2 was just ehh as well, so I don't even know what my action movie of the year will be.
 
M

Maintenance

Member
Watched this and expected much more, Jon Hamm steals the show but that's it, even John Wick 2 (which was a downgrade from 1 btw) was better.

Fucking romance ruined everything.
 
M

Marion Cobretti

Member
This movie left a shit ton to be desired.

Opening chase was by far the best part of the movie. It was all downhill from there. Really lame that they made a movie about a getaway driver, and had the majority of chase scenes be in trucks or SUVs. BORING!!!!!

They even wasted Jon Hamm.

Edit: just saw opening scene again.... This moved sucks.
 
H

hotcyder

Member
bud said:
2017 must have been a very poor year for action films if this takes the crown.
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I don't even think John Wick 2 is as great as people are making it out to be - it's certainly not the first. Some of the action choreography is so hammy it looks like almost fan-filmish. Past the pretty excellent opener, the film just becomes kind of a bore plotwise.

Atomic Blonde took the crown from JW2.
 
E

Experien

Member
Are we sure we are using the word "best" right?

I mean Logan came out this year. Hitman's Bodyguard even had better action.
 
D

Dishwalla

Banned
Marion Cobretti said:
This movie left a shit ton to be desired.

Opening chase was by far the best part of the movie. It was all downhill from there. Really lame that they made a movie about a getaway driver, and had the majority of chase scenes be in trucks or SUVs. BORING!!!!!

They even wasted Jon Hamm.

Edit: just saw opening scene again.... This moved sucks.
Click to expand...

I count, what, three trucks used in a scene? The Chevy Avalanche that was explicitly chosen as detailed by The Doc's plan, which battled the redneck's Dodge Ram. Later in the movie Jon Hamm's character briefly tries to escape the cops in another Dodge Ram before being hit by Baby in his Toyota. And near the end Baby uses an old, heavy, GMC Jimmy and it's 4 wheel drive capability to overpower the police interceptor Dodge Charger(the same Jimmy was driven by Debora in their attempt to leave the state). Baby also used a Dodge Challenger, a Chevy Caprice, a Saturn Aura briefly, his own Lincoln, the Suburu WRX at the beginning. I don't really see an overabundance of trucks being used in chase scenes that you see.
 
L

LeadenStride

Member
shaneo632 said:
It's a good film stylishly executed, nothing more. The final stretch in particular felt both rushed and cliched.
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This is how I see it. The ending was a bummer, especially since the films action evolved more and more into something you'd see in other action movies. Still, not a bad movie at all.
 
Fox Mulder

Fox Mulder

Member
hotcyder said:
I don't even think John Wick 2 is as great as people are making it out to be - it's certainly not the first. Some of the action choreography is so hammy it looks like almost fan-filmish. Past the pretty excellent opener, the film just becomes kind of a bore plotwise.

Atomic Blonde took the crown from JW2.
Click to expand...

JW2 was good, but pretty forgettable as well. It didn't have the simple motivation of the first and kind of just ends. The first is just better.

I havent seen Baby Driver or Atomic Blonde yet.
 
N

Nappuccino

Member
Baby Driver was a great film everyone should see and no one should talk about first.

Saying things like "Best Action Movie of all time" is only going to lead to blow back. Hell, even saying "Greatest Summer Movie" only sets expectations too high.
 
F

Fevaweva

Member
Nappuccino said:
Baby Driver was a great film everyone should see and no one should talk about first.

Saying things like "Best Action Movie of all time" is only going to lead to blow back. Hell, even saying "Greatest Summer Movie" only sets expectations too high.
Click to expand...

Or even "its a good movie."

I am being needlessly harsh, it is undeniably well made and acted, I just found the script lacking.
 
G

GamerJM

Banned
I thought it was alright. As someone who really isn't a fan of Edgar Wright this is my favorite thing I've seen from him yet, which isn't saying much since I really don't care for his other stuff. It was well choreographed and directed, but none of the musical stuff really felt like it served a greater narrative purpose other than just looking cool. The ending also just felt like it went on for too long; you just knew that at the end of the chase segments he was going to get caught anyways. It was definitely original, though, and had some of the best car chase scenes I've seen in a while.

I don't think I've seen a movie this year that was very good in terms of pure action, though. Didn't watch John Wick 2. I liked most of the superhero movies, but none of them were really standouts in terms of action.
 
Daffy Duck

Daffy Duck

Member
I really enjoyed it ( just watched it) but John Wick 2 is a step above.

This film is so good though. Really enjoyable to watch.

It's also very very clever in the use of music and audio timing.
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Marion Cobretti said:
This movie left a shit ton to be desired.

Opening chase was by far the best part of the movie. It was all downhill from there. Really lame that they made a movie about a getaway driver, and had the majority of chase scenes be in trucks or SUVs. BORING!!!!!

They even wasted Jon Hamm.

Edit: just saw opening scene again.... This moved sucks.
Click to expand...

It reminded me of the post-Pulp Fiction movies in the 90s, when everybody was trying to write dialogue like Tarantino and make their characters sound cool. Jamie Foxx's "Bats" was the only one that I could actually feel some genuine menace from. The entire thing just didn't connect with me. Well directed, but the story never grabbed me and I only felt tense during the
scene where the whole crew is at the diner
.

I'm trying to think of my favorite action movie this year. Maybe Logan.
 
SJRB

SJRB

Gold Member
Movie starts off really great but never reaches that same height again.

It's a stylish movie but there's a total overkill on the soundtrack, at a certain point halfway through it actually got annoying. It's just an endless barrage of classic tracks and they kinda lose all meaning at that point. Movie turned a corner when Jamie Foxx's character appeared and people were randomly getting killed left and right. It was a pretty uplifting, serious with a wink-kind of movie but things turned pretty dark from that point on.

I really enjoyed the clever editing in combination with the soundtrack and sound effects, that was neat.


Also - Baby is Batman. There's no other explanation. There are like, what... 3 sequences where he straight up vanishes into thin air? He probably crashes halfway in the movie and the rest of the movie is his fantasy while he's actually in a coma or something.
 
J

jett

D-Member
Baby Driver was a lot of fun but it kinda peters out as it moves along instead of getting better and better.

Surprisingly restrained and subdued editing by Edgar Wright's standards.

Fancy Clown said:
Wonder Woman has awful action
Click to expand...

This is a true fact. Over-reliance on CGI of dubious quality and Snyder-like speed ramping. Let's not even bring up the gawd-awful third act.
 
C

CHC

Member
Watched like 30 minutes. Awesome chase scene in the opener but the film's whole style was extremely grating and cringeworthy to me. Couldn't stand it.

Bailed when Spacey is like "SHOP. Let's talk it." Little too cool for me.

Also, Ansel Elgort is gratingly unlikable.
 
D

DoctorFling

Member
Baby Driver was good but very flawed. It's opening and final action scenes were very good but some of the ones inbetween were pretty dull.
 
C

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
DeathoftheEndless said:
The opening car chase is excellent. It never reaches that high again. John Wick: Chapter 2 is best action movie of the year by far.
Click to expand...

Definitely agree with the bolded. During those opening minutes I was expecting great things from this movie if it kept up, but it didn't. Was disappointed to see the movie completely fall apart in the third act. I love the song selection during some of the scenes (I will never get tired of Focus - Hocus Pocus), but this is a musical where there's always a song playing and after a certain point even that starts to lose some impact.
 
T

TimeEffect

Member
CHC said:
Watched like 30 minutes. Awesome chase scene in the opener but the film's whole style was extremely grating and cringeworthy to me. Couldn't stand it.

Bailed when Spacey is like "SHOP. Let's talk it." Little too cool for me.

Also, Ansel Elgort is gratingly unlikable.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Cant stand how corny these movies are

Maybe Im getting old, but I couldnt stand how casual the violence was. Am I supposed to like the protagonist for it?

It all comes off as so sterile
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I wouldn't have gone to see this, but... MoviePass.
After the first few scenes I was thinking "Oh God, please make it stop." but then things got less gimmicky and tiresome, for a while at least. The lead has the charisma of a tree stump (if a tree stump could be an unlikeable ass sometimes) and the romance was weirdly undeveloped but it was a passable and sometimes endearingly quirky heist flick with some good action.
I'd file it safely in the 'like' column but coming from Wright it was a disappointment.

bud said:
2017 must have been a very poor year for action films if this takes the crown.
Click to expand...

John Wick 2 has no competition, except maybe War For The Planet Of The Apes if that counts.
 
R

RoaringMdog

Member
TimeEffect said:
Agreed. Cant stand how corny these movies are

Maybe Im getting old, but I couldnt stand how casual the violence was. Am I supposed to like the protagonist for it?

It all comes off as so sterile
Click to expand...


I don't get this comment, since the main protagonist doesn't like voilence at all?


Also, we all know Kingsman is going to be the best action movie of 2017, not Baby Driver or John wick 2.
 
E

espher

Member
I found it dragged in spots but I didn't really feel the opening chase was the best.

I preferred the foot chase.
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
It's sort of a minor point, but the girl would have gone to prison.
Unless of course she convinced them she was kidnapped in which case Mr. Personality would have been extra fucked.
 
S

Some Nobody

Junior Member
RoaringMdog said:
I don't get this comment, since the main protagonist doesn't like voilence at all?


Also, we all know Kingsman is going to be the best action movie of 2017, not Baby Driver or John wick 2.
Click to expand...

If Kingsman has better for action than fucking John Wick 2, I'll eat an eraser. :p.

Also: Man, does GAF ever get anything right? Baby Driver was a damn good film. As far as pure action it doesn't hold a candle to JW2, but still a fantastic film.
 
S

sam777

Member
I enjoyed it but one gripe I had was how Buddy (John Hamm) was basically invincible, it just seemed out of place.
 
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