Edgy and zany!

Death comes suddenly, savagely for a character in Edgar Wright’s edgy, zany thriller much in the same manner it did to a bus commuter at Worli on March 12, 1993 in a harrowing scene captured for posterity by brilliant lens man Mukesh Parpiani, who now runs the Piramal Gallery, NCPA. Unlike that hapless commuter, the celluloid character is a criminal and it’s tempting to say he deserved it but one will try to not be judgmental.

For karma, unforgiving karma, seems to be at play in this crime caper whose plot succumbs to fantasy to underline the importance of empathy, the moral compass and most of all, the simple truth that little acts of kindness go a long, long way. Partly inspired by a music video, Edgar Wright directed for the band Mint

Royale, the film is replete with the violence that befits this dexterously shot and expertly edited crime caper.

Young Ansel Elgort dazzles as a getaway driver who is attached to a personal soundtrack which includes his dead mother’s version of Lionel Richie’s “Easy (like Sunday Morning)”. He’s not a chubby-wubby baby-face although he answers to the name and his life takes an upswing when he meets chirpy waitress Debora (Lily James) who has the same dreams as he does: To hit the road (like the couple in that hit song by Lobo, only it’s not on the soundtrack.)

Ansel’s Baby babysits a benign, black, wheel-chair bound geriatric with the bluest eyes you ever saw. He delivers pizza for small change when he is not working as a getaway driver for Doc (Kevin Spacey) who masterminds a series of bank robberies. One heist with psychopaths Bats (Jamie Foxx) and Buddy (Jon Hamm) and his wife Darling aka Monica (Eiza Gonzalez) goes terribly wrong. Baby tries to flee with the cops and criminals in hot pursuit.

Interestingly, Baby and Buddy enjoy utterly lovely relationships with their respective partners. Wright also likes happily ever after in black and white imagery, but don’t expect anything mushy. Just hold on to your seat belt.