Filmmaker Michael Bay is best known for making action films that heavily feature big explosions and stylistic cinematography, and his latest film, Ambulance is no exception. Based on a 2005 Danish film of the same name, Ambulance follows two brothers who hijack an ambulance during a bank-heist-gone-wrong.
The film is unmistakably Bay; there are swooping shots of LA that’ll make you feel like you’re on a roller coaster, huge explosions and multiple (almost excessive) car flips and crashes. Sadly, while the film has great cinematography and stunts, the plot is lacking and it’s almost like Bay never settled on what genre Ambulance is supposed to be.
For the first half an hour it’s rather serious and dramatic and… well, flat. Then the film leans into the absurdity of the plot – seriously, a police officer’s saved from bleeding out thanks to a cheap plastic hair clip – and the tone is rather comedic, especially because of the non-stop one-liners that’ll make you laugh out loud.
The middle of the film is actually rather enjoyable but when Ambulance randomly goes back to a serious and dramatic tone for the ending, which honestly seems to palely imitate a Christopher Nolan Batman film – Eiza González’s character walks in slow-mo with Hans Zimmer-like music swelling – it’s bizarre and left-field compared to the rest of the film.
Jake Gyllenhaal is the clear standout in Ambulance and his performance as the manic and erratic Danny Sharp is brilliant. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and González do the best they could with what they were given – the ‘good’ (read: boring) brother and a pensive EMT.
Ambulance is definitely too long as well, if only Bay had cut the slow beginning and the melodramatic ending, he would’ve had a decent film on his hands. That being said, Ambulance is still enjoyable if you go in knowing that it’s a long car chase movie with wild stunts, enthralling action sequences and great comedic moments.
Any fan of Bay’s previous work, like Transformers, or fans of the Fast & Furious franchise will probably love Ambulance, but I can only give it a 5.5/10.
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