History Film / BabyDriver

** The channel surfing scene early in the film factors into some of Baby's dialogue later on. Particularly when he recites a line (namely "You and I are a team!") from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' to Doc, who notices it.

** One more ''very'' subtle one from the channel surfing scene: on one channel, Baby passes a clip from ''Film/ItsComplicated'' with Creator/JohnKrasinski saying "They grow up so freaking fast, don't they?". Baby says the same line [[spoiler: when he gets Sam's age wrong while scouting out the post office]].

* BigBad: At first, Doc seemed as this, but Doc is more of an AntiVillain. The real BigBad is [[spoiler:pretty much everyone else in the group.]] [[spoiler:Buddy especially because other than Baby, he's the last man standing.]]
** [[spoiler:If anything, though, Bats constantly being a trigger-happy troublemaker and having it out for Baby for no real reason is the true cause of things going irrevocably crazy by the end of the film]].

Creator/AnselElgort plays Baby ([[CatchPhrase "B-a-b-y Baby"]]), a young GetawayDriver whose affinity for always listening to his iPod while he drives [[BunnyEarsLawyer makes him extremely skilled at his job]]. He has a tragic past working for a crime boss (Creator/KevinSpacey) and his gang of bank robbers, and when he meets and falls in love with an innocent waitress (Creator/LilyJames), he finally [[OneLastJob has a reason to leave the criminal world]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Faced with a police blockade, Baby surrenders to the cops to save Debora from becoming a criminal like him. He gets a 25-year prison sentence, but his good deeds and [[CharacterWitness character witnesses]] convince the judge to make him eligible for parole after only 5 years served. She [[IWillWaitForYou waits for him]] until the day he is set free.]]

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler:Baby himself doesn't get away with committing and being accessory to any number of crimes, up to and including murder... although he does apparently get parole after five years of a twenty-five-year sentence.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: A combined example of good and bad karma. So, Baby [[spoiler:gets arrested at the end of the film, all of the crimes he committed coming back to haunt him.]] However, [[spoiler:all the people he had been kind to over the film, including the lady he apologized to for stealing her car and the post office clerk he warned not to go into the post office, all testify that he seems to be a good person.]] Added altogether, [[spoiler:Baby gets sentence to 25 years in jail, but is apparently paroled after only serving five.]]

** [[spoiler:A few PetTheDog moments doesn't erase several years of being the wheelman and get-away driver for robbery crews under a crime boss, and Baby is found guilty and tossed in jail, though is allowed parole after only serving 5 years of his 25 year sentence, after his surrender.]]

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Samm at first seems like a disinterested eight-year-old. But he's better at counting the number of cameras, guards, windows and everything in the post office than Baby is. Also, he points out the post office teller will probably "fold" before firearms are needed.

** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] when we see Doc's nephew [[ProductPlacement playing with a]] UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita.

->''"Whoo! That's some [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] shit right there!"''

''Baby Driver'' is a 2017 action film written and directed by Creator/EdgarWright. Unlike what the title and the director's previous body of work (such as the ''Film/ThreeFlavoursCornettoTrilogy'') might suggest, this film is not a tightly-tuned comedy, but rather a tightly-tuned action crime drama (though Wright's SignatureStyle of comedy still leaks through).

* AmbiguousEnding: Reportedly, the final scene where Baby gets out of jail was deliberately left ambiguous (notice that neither Baby nor Debora has visibly aged) to let the audience interpret whether he really got paroled.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Faced with a police blockade, Baby surrenders to the cops to save Debora from becoming a criminal like him. He gets a 25-year prison sentence, but his good deeds and [[CharacterWitness character witnesses]] convince the judge to make him eligible for parole after 5 years served. She [[IWillWaitForYou waits for him]].]]

** Jon Spencer (of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) as a prison guard.
** Flea, as Eddie No-Nose
** Creator/WalterHill, director of Film/TheDriver, is the voice of the [[spoiler:interpeter for Joe during Baby's trial]].

** The channel surfing early in the film factors into some of Baby's dialogue later on. Particularly when he recites a line from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' to Doc, who notices it.

** In the same channel surfing sequence, there is footage of a matador, with the voice over talking about how the matador has to demount and take to being chased on foot. This can be seen as foreshadowing for [[spoiler:the final act of the movie, in which Baby takes off out of his car and is chased on foot by the police. This also corresponds to Buddy's VillainousBreakdown in the final act, as Darling describes Buddy as unstoppable when he sees red, just like a bull - we even see in a [[FreezeFrameBonus news broadcast]] that his last name is Van ''Horn''. The fact that he is bathed red in the car's interior during the climax further hammers this point home.]]
** One more ''very'' subtle one from the channel surfing: on one channel, Baby passes a clip from ''Film/ItsComplicated'' with Creator/JohnKrasinski saying "They grow up so freaking fast, don't they?". Baby says the same line [[spoiler: when he gets Sam's age wrong while scouting out the post office]].

** The post office cashier quotes Music/DollyParton to Baby: "You can't have a rainbow without a little rain." [[spoiler:In the final scene, there's a rainbow in the background when Baby gets out of prison.]]

* ASideOrderOfRomance: Baby meets and falls in love with Debora at her waitressing job at an old-fashioned diner that the crew visit a few times while on the job. She doesn't learn about his true career until near the end of the movie, but she is incredibly loyal to him, willing to risk death and imprisonment for him even though she barely knows him. The AmbiguousEnding [[spoiler:implies that she waits for him for his whole jail sentence.]] The film also provides the trope image.

** [[spoiler:A few PetTheDog moments don't erase several years of being the wheelman for robbery crews, and Baby is found guilty and tossed in jail after his surrender.]]

* AbusiveParents: Baby's father is an unloving, boozing, violent asshole who beats his wife and is responsible for her ([[AssholeVictim and his own]]) death, as well as Baby's tinnitus. Needless to say, Baby does ''not'' miss him.

** Baby's father is a drunken dickhead who shoves his wife around and yells at his baby boy. While he winds up causing the fatal accident that kills Baby's mother and gives Baby tinnitus, [[KarmicDeath he also dies in the process]].
* AsianAirhead: JD. When told to get [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Michael Myers]] masks, he gets masks of comedian Creator/MikeMyers instead. When he accidentally leaves his shotgun behind during a heist, Doc kills him for his stupidity.

** Baby's otherwise abusive {{Jerkass}} of a father is shown grinning broadly in a flashback when young Baby receives an iPod for his birthday.

* AnimalMotifs: Buddy is repeatedly compared to bulls. Darling describes him as unstoppable when he sees red, he's bathed in red light [[spoiler: while driving the stolen cop car, and he tries to kill Baby and Debora by ramming their car like a bull. And a news broadcast reveals his name to be Van ''Horn.'']]

* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler:When Baby comes to Bob's diner, covered in blood, and finds Buddy sitting there with a gun under his newspaper]], we hear sirens and see police lights outside as a cop walks in - and [[spoiler: asks Debora for the restroom key, ignoring Baby and Buddy.]]

** Buddy, to a lesser degree. He loves his wife Darling, and even shares Baby's passion for music and driving. [[spoiler: He ends up being the biggest threat by far to Baby, surviving a gunshot wound to the chest and effortlessly mowing down squads of cops to catch up to Baby after Darling's death.]]
* BigBad: At first, Doc seemed as this, but Doc is more of an AntiVillain. The real BigBad is [[spoiler: pretty much everyone else in the group.]] [[spoiler: Buddy especially because other than Baby, he's the last man standing.]]
** [[spoiler: If anything, though, Bats constantly being a trigger-happy troublemaker and having it out for Baby for no real reason is the true cause of things going irrevocably crazy by the end of the film]].

* BriefAccentImitation: After Baby’s second coffee run, Bats asks Baby if he’s wondering where JD is, as JD’s chair is empty. Bats holds up one of the Austin Powers masks and imitates Austin Powers’s voice to say: “[[YouHaveFailedMe ‘Cause he’s long gone, baby]]”.

* BullyingADragon: Since Baby isn’t really a physically imposing person and often comes off as quiet and timid, one would be forgiven for thinking he’s harmless. [[spoiler:Bats however finds out quite painfully what happens when you push him too far.]]

** Baby listens to "Easy" by [[Music/LionelRichie The Commodores]] when he has [[spoiler: to dispose of JD's body and the car it was in.]] It's later revealed that this is the song Baby's mother sings on his cassette song (and when his mother's version is played, it picks up where the earlier Commodore version left off). Apparently, Baby listens to "Easy" to console himself when he is sad.
** Buddy bonds with Baby over "[[Music/{{Queen|Band}} Brighton Rock]]" early on. [[spoiler:At the climax when Buddy is trying to kill Baby with a stolen police cruiser, he blasts the song over the cruiser's speakers, reminding Baby how he said it was his "killer track".]]

* CharacterWitness: [[spoiler: Baby has several during his trial.]]

** [[spoiler: Baby's earlier PetTheDog moments result in a more likely chance of early parole when he is arrested at the end.]]

** [[spoiler: The last of the Butcher's men gets a FingerTwitchingRevival after Bats guns them down. He and two other guys show up just long enough to critically injure Doc in the climax, leading to his HeroicSacrifice.]]

* ColorMotif: Red is the dominant color when things are going Baby's way (i.e. his red Subaru in the opening robbery, the driving gloves, the sign for Bo's Diner, his pizza delivery car and uniform), and blue when they aren't (i.e. the car Baby uses for the second botched robbery, the blue pickup truck with white stripes driven by "[[BadassBystander Soldier Boy]]", the hat and jacket he steals as a disguise when trying to escape on foot, [[spoiler:the siren lights from the police car Buddy steals]]).

** Baby, despite running several blocks away, [[spoiler: still runs into Buddy and Darling outside the shopping mall.]]

** Doc wanted Bats's group to wear [[{{Franchise/Halloween}} Michael Myers]] ''[[Film/{{Halloween 1978}} Halloween]]'' masks. [=JD=] instead gets [[Creator/MikeMyers Mike]] [[Film/AustinPowers Myers]] [[UsefulNotes/AllHallowsEve Halloween masks.]]

--->'''[[spoiler:Buddy]]''': ''What the fuck did you do?!''\\
'''[[spoiler:Baby]]''': [[spoiler:[[BondOneLiner I moved.]]]]

---> '''Doc:''' Don't feed me any more lines from ''Monsters, Inc''. It pisses me off!

** [[spoiler: Doc calls Bats by his real name of Leon as a threat. Also, after the post office robbery goes wrong, a news report in the diner reveals the names of Bats and Darling to be Leon Jefferson III and Monica Castello, respectively. Earlier, Darling even told Bats her real name was Monica.]]

* HopeSpot: When the crew finds out Baby has made tapes of every meeting, they immediately think he's a snitch and don't buy Baby's explanation that he remixes them into music for his own entertainment. He proves it to them when they retrieve his stash of tapes and it seems like he's in the clear...[[spoiler: until Darling spots a tape named "Debora" and remembers that was the name of the waitress who served them at Bo's Diner.]]

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:After Bats needlessly kills a security guard right in front of him, Baby decides he's had enough, turns off Bats's airbag and purposely wrecks the car so a bundle of rebar gets rammed through Bats's chest.]]
* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler: Baby kills Bats with a judicious combination of the car they're both in and a bundle of steel rebar on the truck in front of them.]]

* KilledOffScreen: The possible fate of [[spoiler:Griff]].

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailers emphasize Doc, Bats and even Griff as the film's main antagonists [[spoiler: but the film's most notable threat comes from Buddy.]]

** This is basically Bats's reaction during the second heist, when Baby runs into a Dodge pick-up truck covered in pro-gun/veteran decals. He shouts "We got a hero!" when the other driver reaches for his [=HK45=] pistol.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Baby is obviously a decent guy, and by the end, [[spoiler: Buddy]] is a murderous madman. But if we watched the movie from [[spoiler: Buddy's]] point of view and knew more of his backstory, we'd likely be much more sympathetic towards him. He only goes completely off the rails because [[spoiler: he's grief-stricken after the love of his life was killed - and the brat who got her killed stabbed him in the back, despite Buddy being nothing but nice and friendly to him]]. If the narrative revolved around [[spoiler: Buddy]], it could easily be spun as a revenge story.
* {{Pun}}:

* TheQuietOne: Baby doesn't talk much; Buddy [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] this by joking that he's mute.

** [[spoiler: Buddy is shot in the chest, then crashes his car into an elevator, then has his car rammed off an overhang and just barely gets out again, then gets hit with a crowbar, then shot again in the leg, then he falls several stories onto a car, which then explodes.]]

* RevengeByProxy: Played with. [[spoiler:Buddy [[ImpliedTrope seems to suggest]] that he is going to kill Debora in retaliation for Baby sabotaging the post office robbery, resulting in Darling’s death, but he initially never explicitly threatens her. When Buddy does finally tell Baby that he will take him from what he most loves, he then fires shots near Baby’s ears, further damaging Baby’s hearing. This seems to take away Baby’s ability to hear, robbing him of what he most loves: listening to music. [[DoubleSubversion Then]] he says he wishes Baby would be able to "hear her screams".]]

** When Baby is [[spoiler: running from the cops on foot]], [[WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians one person's dog starts barking and they yell "Pongo, stop!"]]

--> '''Baby''': Your tattoo says, "Hat."
--> '''JD''': Yeah, it used to say "Hate". But to increase my chances of employment, I got the E removed.
--> '''Baby''': How's that working out for you?
--> '''JD''': Who doesn't like hats?

* ThemeNaming: Four of the most prominent of the criminals--"Baby", "Buddy", "Darling" and "Doc"--are all named after common terms of endearment. [[spoiler: Those four, appropriately enough, survive the longest.]]

* TragicKeepsake: Baby kept his original [=iPod=] that his parents gave him as a kid after it was damaged beyond repair from [[spoiler:the car accident that killed his parents.]] There's also the gold tape he has of his mother singing. [[spoiler:This is the only tape he is able to recover from Doc.]]
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Sam at first seems like a disinterested eight-year-old. But he's better at counting the number of cameras, guards, windows and everything in the post office than Baby is. Also, he points out the post office teller will probably "fold" before firearms are needed.

** An offscreen example, where Doc apparently watched ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' with Sam, as he implies when Baby tries to reassure him with one of its lines. He seems to watch movies with Sam fairly often, enough to know that ''Monsters, Inc.'' is one of Sam's favourite films.

* QuotesFitForATrailer: Considering the mass critical acclaim the film's advertising had to flaunt, its "[=TeKillYah=]" trailer made good use of several lines.

* CanAlwaysSpotACop: Bats recognizes on of The Butcher's ment o be an officer that arrested him years ago, which leads to Bats to assume the sale is a sting operation and start shooting, [[spoiler:only to later find out they were {{Dirty Cop}}s working with Doc]].

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: The only Asian character, JD is killed by Doc after dropping his shotgun during the armored car robbery.

** The scene where Baby swerves to knock away a spike strip into the path of an oncoming cop car is followed by Darling saying "This shit is bananas, dawg!"

* WaxingLyrical: [[spoiler:When Baby admits he records conversations to remix into songs]], Darling's reaction is, "[[Music/GwenStefani This shit is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s]]".
* WhamLine: "That's not the cops!"

* QuotesFitForATrailer: Considering the mass critical acclaim the film's advertising had to flaunt, its "[=TeKillYah=]" trailer made particularly gleeful use of several lines.

** The reveal that the film has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score is punctuated by Baby saying "Damn right."

** Creator/DanielDaeKim plays a violent thug with an attitude problem and wears a [[VideoGame/SaintsRow purple shirt]] no less.

** When Bats is speechifying to the rest of the crew about how they don't take crime seriously, he says Buddy and Darling rob to support a drug habit while he "does drugs to support a robbery habit." Buddy chuckles and says that was clever.