Ambulance is one of the best Michael Bay films in years with fantastic performances, amazing thrilling moments, and even some surprises.
For the last decade it has become hard for me to get excited for Michael Bay films anymore. What I have learned is that half of his movies I enjoy… but other times Bay goes full on in his style and it really just destroys the film for me. Previously he went to Netflix and directed 6 Underground, a hollow movie that really was just a self parody of what Bay Loves to do — so my expectations for Ambulances were not that high. THANKFULLY the film delivers an AWESOME time at the movies and develops one of the best films Bay has made in YEARS.
What Works With Ambulance
With any review let’s jump into the best aspects of why Ambulance is the adrenaline thrill ride that Bay brings out when he is on his game. First off the performances in here are arguably some of the best Bay has gotten out of his actors in quite awhile. Jake Gyllenhaal turns in an unhinged, terrifying performance that really intrigued me and had me glued to the screen. Alongside he plays the brother of Yahya Abdul-Mateen 11 who becomes the heart of the entire story.
A guy in a rough spot needing money to save his Wife’s life. A simple concept we have seen before but one that won me over due to Mateen’s strong performance. Both Gyllenhaal and Mateen bring a chemistry that feels strained but you can see the two were family at one point. Eiza Gonzalez as well needs to be given a shoutout as her performance was truly great.
Gonzalez has really been turning in great performances in side roles the last few years and even with some weak writing for her character she is able to go above and beyond those moments. These three main leads are the reason that Ambulance falls away from the typical cheesy action films that we are typically getting.
Michael Bay returns to his strengths in Ambulance to give some intense action scenes throughout the entire pacing of the movie. The film certainly has issues however, a lot of which are straining from Bay’s style. It is very hard to deny that once you turn your brain off you are along for a giant thrill ride that you feel apart of all the way till the end. In fact my body was sweating from the insanity given throughout this film. Just as the trailer promised, this is one GIANT car chase that doesn’t stop till the film ends. As a sucker for car chases and bank heist films this delivers.
Truthfully one of the biggest elements I was so shocked to see were the new elements always being added to the chase that gives the chase a better self contained feeling than I thought we would get from the trailers. To round out my favorite aspects of the film I really loved the drone shots captured here, they might be WAY OVERUSED but the swaying of the camera was very well done.
What Doesn’t Work With Ambulance
Ambulance is a damn good time to throw popcorn in your face and turn your brain off, but I think you already knew that going in. The film is held back at certain points that hold it back from being the PERFECT action film. A lot of what Bay brings to films is all here and that includes the bad. Bay loves infusing weird moments of humor and sometimes Ambulance has these that it works… Other times it detours from the entire film.
These moments took me out of the experience as well as the pacing — I swear this film goes on for 20-30 more minutes than it needed to. The final 10 minutes feels so dragged out and waiting for something else to happen such as an Optimus Prime speech haha. But really enough the film has more than enough fat to cut especially when it comes down to the editing of destruction.
So many cars explode and they show like every viewpoint of them getting destroyed. Taking out some of these other angles would have really helped. As for my last issue with Ambulance there are way too many characters in this damn thing that really have no reason to be in the film.
Overall Thoughts
Ambulance is indeed one of the best Michael Bay Films in YEARS. It might still contain some of the worst aspects of his filmography but with some fantastic performances, amazing thrilling moments, and even some surprises that keep the car chase interesting — I found myself truly invested with this story. It might be way too long, and the pacing could have been cut up a bit better but even then I was so impressed with this film!
Grade: B
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About Ambulance
Needing money to cover his wife’s medical bills, a decorated veteran teams up with his adoptive brother to steal $32 million from a Los Angeles bank. However, when their getaway goes spectacularly wrong, the desperate thieves hijack an ambulance that’s carrying a severely wounded cop and an EMT worker. Caught in a high-speed chase, the two siblings must figure out a way to outrun the law while keeping their hostages alive.
