New Jersey Stage 2017: Issue 6 | Page 19

Rogers, thus exposing their limi- tations, Wright is aware that his leading man isn’t a dancer, so he lets his camera do the dancing, creating a sequence as thrilling in its simplicity as the opening of John Badham’s Saturday Night Fever. Clive James also said that Steve McQueen’s worst movie was Le Mans, because the star was stuck behind the wheel of a car, his face obscured by a helmet, for its duration. Wright puts his leading man in a similar situa- NJ STAGE 2017 - Vol. 4 No. 6 tion several times here, but it’s not a problem, because as soon as Elgort buckles himself in, his car becomes the dancer, the streets of Atlanta its dancefloor. Cut to the rhythm of whatever tune Baby happens to be listen- ing to at the time, Baby Driver’s car chase sequences are a re- minder of the thrills Hollywood action cinema once delivered. Unlike the tired and tedious Fast & Furious movies, Baby Driver of- fers practical effects in a variety of set-pieces designed to thrill INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 19