10 Biggest Movie Tropes Of 2017
2. Heroes Only Went Into Battle Once They'd Cued Up Their Awesome Playlist
Seen in: Guardians Of The Galaxy: Volume 2, Baby Driver, Atomic Blonde, The Lego Batman Movie, Blade Runner 2049
Of course, no self-respecting hero of 2017 would do battle with their horned god adversary without the accompaniment of the wailing sounds of Led Zeppelin (or a distinctly Immigrant Song-ish electric cello riff in the case of Wonder Woman). This kind of use of a pop music soundtrack for an action sequence rather than the traditional score is nothing new, though (witness the slightly clunky jukebox soundtrack to Suicide Squad, for example). That music, however, is non-diegetic (it is heard only by the audience, while not appearing within the world of the film). This year was the year in which soundtracks became diegetic. Heroes spent a lot of this year putting on their own retro playlists as backing tracks for their synched up action scenes.
One of the pioneers in this area was the original Guardians Of The Galaxy's nostalgia-filled "Awesome Mix", so naturally Volume 2 (the movie) was backed by Volume 2 (the mixtape). After a brief earth-based prologue, we were sent straight in to an opening credits sequence that saw Baby Groot sticking on ELO's Mr Blue Sky and dancing around while an epic battle took place at the edge of the screen, perfectly setting up the tone, style and music of the film. It also set a trend for the year as a whole.
Right between dropping from the sky in mayor-drag and engaging every one of his villains in a huge fight scene, Lego Batman made sure to pause and cycle through his "Gym Workout" and "Super Cool Mega Mix" playlists to select the right "Let's Get Nuts Mix" for the fight. He even sang along in a remixed take on the old Adam West theme. Even in the distant future of Blade Runner 2049 a shoot out between Ryan Gosling's K and Harrison Ford's Deckard had to happen in a decaying Vegas casino in which their gunfire is punctuated by a holographic jukebox performance of Frank Sinatra's One More For My Baby.
This trend hit its peak with Baby Driver. Edgar Wright's slick car chase flick is basically an extended music video (indeed, it's a reworking of the video he made for Mint Royale's Blue Song, a video which makes a cameo appearance on the TV as Baby channel surfs). The whole movie was built around the fresh-faced, hearing-impaired getaway driver's inability to function without synchronising his actions to the music on his collection of second hand iPods. He even paused and rewound tracks to make sure it all fits together.
Finally, Atomic Blonde's soundtrack slipped consistently between diegetic and non-diegetic music, with the previously mentioned hose-pipe lasso fight beginning with Charlize Theron's super spy pressing play on George Michael's 1987 hit Father Figure before the cops burst into the apartment.
And talking of father figures...