Despite everything all the economic and socio-political troubles we may face, I genuinely love my country. That patriotism is sorely tested though when a movie I’m greatly anticipating releases here much later than the rest of the world. Case in point, Baby Driver, the latest film from fan-favourite British filmmaker Edgar Wright, which hit cinemas overseas this weekend past while we have to wait until 4 August to see what all the hype is about.
And damn is there a lot of hype, with a 97% Fresh rating on RottenTomatoes and an 88% aggregate score on Metacritic. On the commercial front, the fast-paced action flick about a getaway driver who uses music to both drown out a constant hum in his ears and choreograph his insane vehicular skills has given Wright the biggest box office debut of his career. With the movie already exceeding its budget healthily while still needing to open in many markets, the inevitable talk about a sequel has reared its head. And for once, Wright is actually joining in the conversation.
Out of the four feature films Wright has written/directed, none of them have been sequels. The closest he came is the Cornetto Trilogy of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End which are spiritual sequels using the same cast and similar themes but no narrative cohesion. However, Wright recently spoke to Empire during a podcast and revealed that Sony have suggested a Baby Driver sequel.
The studio have asked me to think about writing a sequel and it is one of the ones that I might do a sequel to because I think there’s somewhere more to go with it in terms of the characters. Baby has got to a new place.
Since we’re yet to see the movie (RAAAAAGE!!), we can’t tell you exactly what place Ansel Elgort’s titular Baby has gotten to. We can tell where he won’t be going though, and that’s back to the beginning again.
Most sequels you have to contrive something so they go back to square one, unless there’s somewhere deeper for them to go. I think with Baby Driver there’s more that you can do in that realm, and I sort of have an idea that if you did another [film] you would subvert his involvement in the crime in a different way so he’s not the apprentice anymore.
Just the trailers alone have got me chomping at the bit for Baby Driver, so I’m already down for whatever Wright possibly cooks up next.
Last Updated: July 7, 2017
Original Heretic
July 7, 2017 at 09:10
Yeah, Kervyn, feel the burn! This is how us ordinary peoples feel when we have to see all this news on these awesome movies that we want to watch, but haven’t yet had the chance to. It sucks.
For example, I hear Wonder Woman is good.