After five successful films, a new director has made his own mark on the film industry. His name: Edgar Wright.

Ever since his debut as a director, Edgar Wright has proven to be one of the most creative directors working today. Through his use of fast clever editing, visual storytelling, and brilliant comedy mixed with a just as complex drama, Wright has made himself stand out among other directors.

But just like an iconic filmmaker, there is so much more under the surface that makes him stand out. All five of his movies — Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, The World’s End, and Baby Driver — have good use of music, exciting action sequences, and great jokes. He somehow manages to balance that with a thoughtful story, colorful characters, and subtle themes that make his movies great.

One thing that Edgar Wright seems to have in the bag, is to always keep the audience’s attention. Along with a great story to tell, he always leaves hidden jokes throughout his movie for movie watchers to find that many people don’t notice until watching the movie again.

He also knows how to deliver meaning, tension, and comedy visually and with musical cues rather than exposition. Edgar Wright believes that film should be a visual medium and should use the camera to tell the story along with clever and thoughtful dialogue. This is seen in his transitional scenes which have a quick close up shot of a character grabbing something, walking to their destination, or making something work properly. These montages aren’t just funny to see, they’re also an extremely creative way to film these scenes that separates them for the rest of the crowd; making every transitional scene invigorating to watch.

He always finds a way to defy genre conventions and always bring something new and innovative to the table. For example, instead of having a heroic savior or broken man as the protagonist for a zombie movie, he instead has two lazy bums as the heroes of our story, which makes the whole conflict more interesting to watch and see unfold.

With each film he makes, Edgar Wright seems to get better and better at what he does. And because of that, he deserves to be in my top 5 favorite filmmakers.