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As much as I love this alternate take the ending for Baby Driver, I think you missed the point of Buddy’s character. He’s suppose to be the opposite of Baby, a twisted version of what he would become if he continued working for Doc. Buddy had a Debora in Darlin’ and when she was killed in action it turned Buddy into a monster. And you can see that same monster in Baby when Bats threatens Debora in the diner. The whole point of the ending is to show how far these characters are willing to go to protect their futures with their loves.

The court scene was a nice pay off for all the good things Baby’s done throughout the film. It felt rewarding that all of the little morale choices he made weren’t for nothing. It works because I just saw those moments as character building scenes, and didn’t expect it to play into the ending. A main conflict of the film is Baby struggling to do good in the criminal world, so it’s worthwhile to show he had a way out.

I feel like Buddy V Baby was the correct final fight as Buddy and Darling are distorted mirrors of Baby and Debora. Even to the first letter of their names. Buddy and Darling are what Baby and Debora would have become if Debora had smashed through the police roadblock on the bridge. Buddy is just the darker version of baby. They both have similar upbringings, stealing cars and driving around to their "killer" track. That is what makes the final scene amazing, its not Baby defeating Buddy because Buddy is the antagonist, its baby defeating his inner demons and preventing himself from falling into the life of love and crime that Buddy and Darling are in. This makes the final pay off of Baby stopping Debora from making them the characters that Buddy and Darling represent.

While the buddy fight finale could be replaced, and your ideas weren't bad, I think it was a nice development of his character. While Buddy starts friendly when he doesn't have any problems with Baby, he is still a criminal at heart. Getting in his way is enough for him to decide killing you. Bats also had teased him about his escapism and how he was always together with darling, and the "you won't like buddy when he gets mad" tease gets to be shown in the movie with the fight. Buddy is also a part of Baby's criminal life, even if he is a friendlier one, so he needed to be dealt with. Plus, it adds weight to Baby's choice of killing bats and ruining the post office heist, he wasn't just killing bats, he was putting all of them in risk. For buddy and darling to just ignore that would be unrealistic for seasoned robbers. Doc's justification of love and actual care for Baby could be seen as a bit of a stretch, on that I can agree on. Finally, about the court scene, I think it's not meant to remind the viewer that baby was a good guy, but to show that those little choices he made, that resistance he put to falling into the pits of crime life, like everyone told him he should, were not in vain. All of the antagonists (grif, bats, doc) are constantly trying to push Baby to fall to their level. They tell him he can't keep pretending to be a good guy while he is down there with the rest of them, and they push him to take the easier, more violent path. Without the courtroom scene, if baby doesn't get caught, it doesn't show a positive message, he just got lucky and ran away; if baby DOES get caught, and the courtroom scene isn't shown, it clearly shows a different message: Those actions didn't matter, you were just as bad as bats, buddy and grif, so why did you bother to try and do everything as "good" as possible? With the courtroom scene, the viewer that has seen Baby struggle through the whole movie with his moral code gets the gratification of knowing it made that much of a difference.

Very good essay, but that scene does serve a purpose. It does give us new information - it reveals that the people who he has negatively affected did notice that he isn't a bad person at all due to his seemingly insignificant gestures.

idk dude, maybe the change of villain could make it better. but... i DO like that the last antagonist is Buddy because the movie created a friendly relationship between Baby, Buddy, and Darling. the thing is... the writer should've made a stronger emotional bond between them in order for that feeling of betray didn't feel off at the end.

The courtroom scene provides us with the information that Baby’s punishment will probably be lenient due to the circumstances of his crimes, which makes the final scene more up for interpretation as it could have believably happened or just been a dream.

I prefer the original ending. I think letting the couple get away doesn't give him the full closure from his old life. I don't think Kevin's character is up for a physical confrontation, hence just being the brains. All the tension has been built around bats so when he gets killed it needs somewhere else to fall immediately. Your ending isn't bad, I think you'd just need to change a lot more of the film (characterisation and themes) to make the ending work.

I loved the courtroom and prison scenes and interpreted it completely differently. It's not about establishing that Baby is a good guy - that's obvious without any doubt. It's about true happy ending. I expected the cliche ending with them killing everybody and riding off for a trip, but i had this feeling that they are 16 and will have a life of running away from police. You don't just go ride into the sunset after causing so much chaos and killing so many people. They would have a life of fear, hiding and running away, and Baby would never escape his past life. With the prison scenes we came to a perfect happy ending, calm and resolved with his past life completed.

Baby Driver was one of my favorite films of 2017. That being said, the ideas you put out paint a great alternate reality!

Great note at the beginning Tyler that analyzing writing is always easier than writing. Critics have the easy job and it isn’t a job which should be taken lightly. Great analysis on the film. I love “Baby Driver” but I do think it is a fairly flawed film which has masterful aspects. I’d like to get around to reviewing it myself soon.

What people often forget about the Cornetto trilogy is that Simon Pegg _also_ wrote those films. While Edgar Wright is a skilled dude, I don't think we'll be seeing anything with the magic of Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, or The World's End ever again. Simon Pegg doesn't get enough credit. If he had been in the writing room for Baby Driver, then that movie would be a masterpiece.

i loved that movie and couldn't really tell what about the ending / last third didn't feel satisfiying. i think your take is spot on

I thought that the testimonies during his court hearing were included to justify his early parole and not necessarily to get the audience behind him.

Thanks for admitting analyzing is easier than writing lol. I always think that when people analyze or criticize.

Buddy is the only antagonist left when Bats dies and Darling dies. The Reason Doc wasn't the antagonist is because Baby changes Doc's heart with how good a person he is. And Baby getting arrested works because he's not running away from responsibility and it's really in character for him.

For me, the after climax would still make sense. The public always knew he wasn't a bad guy but in the movie universe, just a few people knew that. Anyway, amazing video, man! And amazing channel too! Congratulations!

This really inspires me, because it shows that also analyzing your own story after you've written it can be a lot easier than writing the first draft. Conclusion: Write the first draft, even if it's bad, because fixing it will be easier. You have to have written something in order to be able to fix something.

The point of the court scene is to explain why Baby got a reduced sentence, not because they were "re-explaining" anything

Thanks for the video! When I watched the film, I wondered why I didn't like the ending, but I couldn't figure it out. You did. I totally agree with you.

I do like your third act however I feel it rips away the most important part of the story. Buddy and Baby are two sides of the same coin. Both are in love and would do anything for their girl. Buddy is supposed to be nice at the beginning because when baby (unintentionally) gets his girlfriend killed. It’s that much more heartbreaking.

The film isn't running out of options it's a twist....but nice video :)

I actually really liked your alternative. Good job!

Thankyou for your excellent ideas and thoughts. and I appreciate what you did here. As a fun mental game me and my brother often talk about our favorite "animated" films or shows, then discuss how we would rewrite them as live action events. We understand with full respect of the creative process how there are always in a sense improvements you could make for the sake of the audience. Sometimes you want to change a creator's work not because it's a bad, but in fact because you admire and respect it. JT Hughes

0:36 I guess that's why everyone has a KZfaq Channel making video essays, but not everybody is making films... But jokes aside, I think you make a very good point, and I think you're right. That third act always bothered me and now I know why... Baby should have finish against the person who made him drive in the first place: end of the road!

I personally really enjoy the courtroom scene, and I believe that it’s purpose is, ultimately, catharsis. We know that baby is a good person at heart, but not everyone in-universe does. Having all these actions pay off in a reduced sentence felt fair yet satisfying to me

I like the original ending because the theme of the movie is how you can't scape from a life of crime. So when Buddy, who was friendly, turns into the antagonist, it enforces this idea of corruption.

you missed a crucial point of the entire ending: love. buddy doc, and baby all act that way because they are or were in love. the original ending is still whack, but thats why it happens. docs motivation is still stupid though, but i have my own theory. notice docs relative when he scopes out the bank acts like baby. odd right? exactly.

I mean if this was the ending it would have been very predictable and stale, not bad, but we already saw these kinds of third acts again and again. To me Buddy was the right choice: you kind of see it coming and Darling says how dangerous he can be, so the film was building up to it. I agree tho that the "I was in love once" motivation is stupid. I also don't think the court scene was made to convince the audience Baby is a good guy, we don't need to be convinced, the judge does.

Thank you for this video

i know im late but i just watched this and jeez this is an amazing video bruh

Something that I think isn't quite right with the whole idea of Baby not killing Doc is that because Doc really is this big crime boss, I highly doubt he would let him live if the showdown went down the way you said it should. Of course, if Baby ended up escaping the cops fully, and going on an endless ride with Debora, then this wouldn't matter. But, if he was eventually sent to prison, Doc would inevitably have him killed. Again, the problem could be solved by removing the part with him going to jail, but I think that it ruins the previous dichotomy of Buddy and Baby (something that I will let someone else speak for, because they said it better than I ever could) @Rodrigo Jacome commented "As much as I love this alternate take the ending for Baby Driver, I think you missed the point of Buddy’s character. He’s suppose to be the opposite of Baby, a twisted version of what he would become if he continued working for Doc. Buddy had a Debora in Darlin’ and when she was killed in action it turned Buddy into a monster. And you can see that same monster in Baby when Bats threatens Debora in the diner. The whole point of the ending is to show how far these characters are willing to go to protect their futures with their loves." I wholeheartedly agree with that, and it nearly entirely explains the dynamic between the two. Something that I would add is that the ending where Debora tries to Escape the cops once again, but Baby slams onto the breaks, letting himself be arrested. This part of the movie is crucially important because it shows that Baby doesn't want to go down the same path that Buddy did with Darling. Another point that hammers the dichotomy between Buddy/Baby and Darling/Debora is even their names. They both start with B and D respectively, which, in a movie written by Edgar Wright, is most definitely intentional. Sorry this was long, I actually wanted it to be like two sentances. Edit: Oh, and rereading this I realized that I didn't make it clear that you did raise some good points that I agreed with, and I think that a great deal of effort went into this video essay. I really do enjoy hearing your take on things.

I disagree the ending was decent Your ending has been film a hundred times in a hundred different movies maybe you didn't enjoy the ending because it's unfamiliar territory. Fun loving Buddy speaks to reality beware the man you deemed to never be the threat for he is the most dangerous... that speaks of life as the unexpected

The third act was perfection as it was

amazing job

I thought you stopped making video essays about movies! Anyway this was great and while I agree that you should make whatever pleases you, I gotta say that I much prefer this format to the vlog-ish one

I have a question: Should scenes after the climax also raise the conflict or give new information about the characters? Isn't the resolution space more for wrapping things up, without either more conflict or new information? Or would that make for a very boring wrap up?

Loved all your essays.. You helped me to understand the pros and cons of filmmaking!

I completely agree with you. After I saw the movie I thought that the film was overrated because I felt it lost its steam at the third act. I felt the climax was unsatisfying and I didnt know why. I felt a bit bad because everyone was raving about the movie. You provide an excellent answer Sir, and I thank you for that.

Amazing video!

Good thoughts. There were thing's i loved about this movie, especially how it was music driven but i did think things could have been better in the end

You turned the film into a classical mainstream by doing so. It would have been just like the movie "21". Same attitude upon antagonising Kevin Spacey.

Don't you get copyright strike for using these kind of footages in your videos

That court scene gives the audience new information: that Baby's sentence was reduced, and why Baby's sentence was reduced. It is not about Baby being a good person. It brings relief to the audience to know that Baby's sentence is reduced, and the testimony of the audience brings justification to this

This is a top 5 movie for me. Of course subjective but my God do I love this movie. Wouldn’t change it for the world. I do see what you’re saying but again I just love this movie too much to change it.

I prefer the original much more, but still great video.

Alguien sabe cuál es la canción que sale cuando está en el desguace desaciendose del coche con el hombre muerto en el maletero???

One thing I might include on the agenda. I think many others and myself find Deborah as substitute in for his deceased mother, making the contemporary life versus the obsolete life argument feel a bit less potent, Baby is still corralling on to the brink of his past, and Deborah is invariably an unconcealed reminder of that fact.

I believe the film should have ended at the bridge scene when baby is arrested. The jail and out on good behavior seemed like a cop out

damn, ur right. and this was a good movie. cause the life long manipulation, coudl be a source of resentment, and the not getting the payoff for that life long investment, could also be resentment. the buddy thing, he doesnt have a good reason to be bad or good to baby. and the ruthlessness of doc gets to buddy, as he sees himself as a potential target, with no sentiment, as doc can readily turn on baby, even though he invested in him his whole life, defended him, but didnt get returns on that investment. buddy, doesnt fall out becuase of that, but sumthig happens that pits budy against doc, and budy gets taken out, kinda. baby shows down with doc, and budy comes up to get his last revenge cause he hasnt anythign left. most likely dying from a gun shot. doc lives, he goes to jail. the story is not totally ended.

I wasn't satisfied with movie from the third act onwards as well but then again at least it avoided the mob boss cliché and gave us something different. The reason why I prefer this third act over the henchman third act is because a single villain Vs protagonist is something which I find more exciting because a single villain unlike the henchman is not easily dispensable and that adds more thrill.

I think you missed something not all elements of a story needs to advance anything. Especially an ending, on top of this it does advance the conflict. One of the biggest conflicts of the film, that being babys double life. He had two lives through out one being with crime and one being his regular friendly self. There are numerous points where he deliberately keeps them seperate. Examples include not using the money he gained from crime to pay for his date with Debora, another example being all the times his phone rings and he doesnt pick up because he is trying to be himself. The ending forced his crime life and his regular life to crash in to each other and finally allow him to live the way he pleases after his final punishment of the film, being prison.

It a definitely makes sense that there would be conflict between Kevin Spacey and a baby.

I love Edgar Wright movies, but I really have an issue with the endings of his films. Along with Baby Driver, The World's End and Hot Fuzz really have some rhythm and writing issues with their final acts as well. Nevertheless, he is still a very talented and amusing filmmaker.

"You can't rewrite what's perfect" *- Mozart*

I agree with a lot of your points - but I want to twist it FURTHER. Doc is about to kill baby but is then filled full of holes by whom? His body falls away to reveal Buddy "I'll hold them off, run" he says to baby - he dies in a shootout with the police who killed Darling.

It keeps going so we can see him becoming free and leaving his dirty life behind.

Wow. Never realised it needed fixing. Now I know. :D Great essay as usual.

If you have Doc and Buddy living the ending is then Buddy coming to Baby either in prison or on the outside to kill Baby for Doc is pretty natural. Then he says he isn't going to and leaves or hang out since Baby got five years compared to how much Buddy would get.

This is exactly what I thought this movie was setting doc up as the main antagonist from what I saw the third act had me like wtf he all of a sudden wants to help baby it made no sense

Your deconstruction and reconstructions are always thoughtful, informed and you''re always respectful to the creator. Keep these , and the good working coming!

Problem with Buddy is that he was just kinda... boring? Like- him turning out to be the antagonist isn't played off as some sort of twist but a natural progression of events but... it just didn't feel natural. We never got the sense that he was any more competent than the other group members. But suddenly he's this unstoppable badass. It wasn't completely out of nowhere. But it didn't feel earned either.

You may as well have titled the video: "How to Rework a Truly Creative Film to Fit the Syd Field Screenplay Model and Become Utterly Predictable". It was a delightful change of pace to have Buddy take a dark antagonist turn at the end. Like Hitchcock killing off Janet Leigh halfway through "Psycho". sometimes you have to kick Syd Field to the curb and find different paths.

Man! I totally agree with you! There was something in that movie that makes me frustrated everytime I watch it over again, but I couldn't identify what it would be. You perfectly described it. This act 3 is THE reason I get frustrated. And this finale could really be improved. Thanks for this video!

Great video, absolutly agree!

The first 2 acts made me think this was going to be one of my favorite films. Then the ending didn’t really build off the internal or external conflict of the rest of the film. The morality of killing isn’t brought up, the antagonist doesn’t feel right like you said, and it was just overall not a satisfactory way to wrap all of the greatness it started up. I’m glad you made this because that was a disappointing ending to a movie I thought was perfect while watching.

I really like your new third act for this movie. The other aspects of this movie were amazing such as sound design, choices of colors, lighting, etc. After watching the movie for the second time I felt like there is something wrong in the ending. And now after this video, I believe that the movie could become much better with your new third act suggestion. Well done Tyler.

I love the idea of Doc vs. Baby. Also the ending I would of have Baby get arrested. And have the ending where he gets out. But I would have it where it's a dream and Baby is still in prison. The message being crime no matter if your good or bad will come back to bite you in the ass.

Your videos r damm Amazing!!

2:38 The only part that didn't stick with the original movie.

Please do Forrest Gump I would love your take on that movie.

I actually didn't think the Third act lacked a good ending. That's not what bothered me about it. I rather feel as if there is a deficiency in that "Movie being built around the Tracks"-thing. Sure there is the Brighton Rock scene but i still feel like then the movie starts rather flowin with the tracks because those moments when its purely synced to the tracks like in the beginning just aren't there anymore.

I don't agree that Buddy doesn't fit. It is a pretty cool to see how buddy CHANGE towards baby. BUT your ending is definitely superior imo! Would have loved to see that instead.

I wouldn't say Darling trusts Baby she's just along for the ride and because Buddy and her are lovers

Nice critique. I always thought Batts died WAY too easily and early in the film, the finale should have been all about him!

The best fix for Baby Driver would be digitally replacing KS.

1000% Sometimes, it's like we can't let go of a story, we just want to keep writing. But, you're right, I felt the courtroom scene made everything drop... spoon-feeding to much. Edgar arrived after his audience and that's never a good thing. I never felt Don Draper was a real villain. He held no real power over Baby except a physical one. He's a thug... Spacey is John Doe.

he doesn't take the job. done. I'm dusting off my hands as we speak.

I'm surprised film twitter hasn't crucified you for having an issue with an Edgar Wright movie.

I disagree 100% with the very first thing you said. Making Doc the main antagonist would have been predictable as hell and less interesting imo. Buddy was really menacing and great in his role as the man that has nothing to lose. His relationship with baby wasn’t a clear hate one which just makes the dynamic more interesting. I would even go as far as to say it’s best thing about the film. You‘re trying to „fix“ something that really doesn’t need fixing. Your ideas would mostly make the movie lamer and your whole tone sounds like someone who watched a few videos on movie making and tries to sound smart.

I disagree. You don't need a final battle to be one the audience was waiting for at all. Buddy is a great final villain *because* you don't see it coming from the beginning. It has emotional stakes because you spent most of the movie building a relationship with him. I thought the shades of grey morals and the side-switching were extremely satisfying and it's one of the movie's biggest appeals and strengths in hindsight.

Well there is something called subversion of expectations..ever heard of it?

Cool essay. I can see why you have a problem with the ending, but I think auteurs like Edgar Wright can get away with things like this. The ending you describe is how a traditional film would go. The courtroom scenes aren’t about moving the story forward, it’s about illustrating consequences. The ending you outline is slicker, but Wright’s is more truthful.

Baby driver’s first and second act were absolutely perfect 10/10’s but the third act makes aphew mistakes. Mainly 1. Baby’s relationship and the fact debra is so easily willing to go with him. 2. His jail time is supposed to be way longer. You dont get off on nice words from witnesses, it would be like ted bundy getting 10 years in jail then getting out because some girls said he was cute in the court case. And 3. The way baby traversed the mall. Baby is a smart man that knows what to do under pressure. He never got scared by cops, he would have never left the store and even if he did he knew he was good as gone when he hot wired the car. But he proceeded to drive quickly and recklessly. He would have never drove off so recklessly, even with the added foreshadowing in the first act he knew he was good as soon as he stepped in the car. So i loved this video

I can understand your reasoning for wanting to change the original third act, but I think you've missed the main theme of the film. it's about love and innocence, and how those two elements cannot exist in the world of organized crime. Baby learns that he needs to leave that life behind and do the right thing not by killing these criminals, but by turning himself in and doing the time. Baby only learns this by seeing the effects of living without love and innocence. That's why Buddy makes a great antagonist at the end, he's almost like a mirror to Baby's actions. Buddy had love, but it wasn't based on innocence, and once she was gone he turned down a destructive path. Kevin Spacey, who Baby thought was his true antagonist, ended up being an ally. Because Kevin's character knew what it was like to at one time have love and innocence and he was willing to die for that. I think those are solid motivations for an unexpected third act, but satisfying in it's resolution.

I was really disappointed with Baby Driver, it really didn't feel like an Edgar Wright film.

Wow

I like that I found this video, because while I like most of this movie, the whole third act didn't feel right at all and like I wanted something different. And it felt so weird that Doc wasn't the final antagonist, because it felt like they were hinting at that and it goes nowhere. The only part I don't fully agree with is the courtroom scene. Is it necessary? Of course not, the stuff they mention was right in front of us and you'd have to not be watching to miss them, but this is part of the ending, it's to give the viewer some satisfaction seeing that those moments where his character shined through actually mattered in a way that wasn't just only for us the viewer to recognize, but for the court and people in the movie to see it too.

I disagree with you , I feel boss was more connected to baby than buddy ever

Totally agree

Could just have it so bats doesn’t die

It was so beutifully good, until the third act, I mean its not suddenly awful, im sitting in and saying "where are they going with this?"

I totally agree the scene where baby crashes into buddy is a terrible scene. We have a whole movie showing baby as an incredible driver only to have him have 2 accidents within 30 seconds while trying to leave a parking lot. The movie also shows us that baby carries multiple pairs of sunglasses and multiple iPods yet in this scene he has to steal a new pair of sunglasses from the mall and has no spare iPod. Apparently the foot chase scene set to the song Focus by Hocus Pocus was so important to Edgar he paid out of pocket to get it filmed and it kinda just seems like he was more focused on getting the scene in than it actually making sense with the whole movie. As for the court room/prison ending I agree with the other commenters who have said it lets us know the world sees baby the way the audience sees him and that he is riding off into the sunset free and clear rather than always being in fear of being caught by the police.

I as excited for Foxx vs Hamm. They were building it up and Fox was really great then suddenly killed Foxx. I thouhht that was the biggest mistake. Otherwise i think everything was pretty good.

i don't particularly agree with the alternate ending you've given, but i have to agree that the story fell really weak in the third act.

And this is why you are a youtuber and not working in Hollywood. lol

thank God i hated this movie tbh

This is very narcissistic of you

I have no respect for Edgar. That movie was horrible. I still want my money back.