Baby Driver - Alta Velocidade

Edgar Wright's Baby Driver is one of the most entertaining thrill rides of this year, this decade.

It's a wild ride, a highly caffeinated tour de force filled with great action, lots of deadpan humor, and the kind of prevailing coolness that makes you want to drink espresso, troll vintage record stores, and watch old Steve McQueen films when it's over.

Baby Driver might not live entirely up to the hype, but that doesn't make it any less wonderful, Wright once again showing he's a fearless genre-busting directorial wunderkind who's creative gas tank overflows in originality.

Wright's ensemble cast has great comedic timing that, coupled with the percussive score and smooth action setpieces, will you ready to peel out of the local theater.

Baby Driver is so poorly written on levels of plot, characterization and (especially) dialogue that Wright's typically first-rate craftsmanship fails to save it-and, in context, even becomes its own source of annoyance.

The joy of Baby Driver is that, though you've seen versions of this story before, many times over, you've never seen it done quite like this.

At its best, it affects us like adrenaline mixed with laughing gas. But when Baby Driver, like the Energizer bunny, keeps going and going and going (as with half of Wright's other films, it's 20 minutes too long), it manages to run on fumes.

Put in your metaphorical earbuds, turn the key in the ignition, and enjoy the cinematic highlight of the summer so far.

In some ways, it feels like a step backward, considering the maturity and pathos that made his previous picture, 'The World's End,' one of his best. Still, you can't blame a director for wanting to pause his growth and play with his shiny Hollywood toys.

Oozing menace as addicted bank robbers, Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm are all the more charismatic thanks to Bill Pope's luscious noir photography. Credit Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss for the razor-sharp editing.

This is not a philosophy of criminology, or a new pathology of antisocial behavior, but it makes for a terrific night at the movies.

The car chase scenes are the guts of this oddball movie, and they don't disappoint.

Edgar Wright's crackling crime caper rises to the top of this summer's most entertaining movies. It satisfies my need for speed, baby.

In Edgar Wright's Baby Driver, even the machine guns fire in time with the beat.

Wright's movie delivers action that's convincing and concrete - the cars seem real, even when the people don't.

So fun, oddly romantic, and revitalizes the film soundtrack

Remember the visceral excitement you felt the first time you saw De Palma's Carrie, Scorsese's Raging Bull or Tarantino's Pulp Fiction...? Baby Driver induces the same reaction.

Having hooked us with style, Wright knows he has to deliver on the story, and he does. His plotting is tight and fluid, wild and ultimately satisfying.

Edgar Wright's start to finish sensation is blessed with killer car chases, a star-making turn from Ansel Elgort, the year's best soundtrack and the most fun you'll have at the movies all summer.

It's the kind of action-comedy that makes you want to see it again a second after it's over.