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Ambulance
Michael Bay, the director of some of our most famous action adventure classics, goes a little over the top with 2022's Ambulance, an often heart-stopping adventure that defies logic at every turn, rich with "Aw, come on" moments", that will provide entertainment for action fans as long as they don't think about it too much and just strap themselves in for the ride.
Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a financially strapped war vet fresh home from Afghanistan, who is drowning in bills because his baby had life-saving surgery from cancer. In order to take care of some bills, Will agrees to assist his brother, Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal) in robbing a bank. Unfortunately, the robbery goes terribly wrong with Will shooting a cop (Jackson White). In order to escape, Will and Danny hijack an ambulance, taking a tough as nails EMT worker (Eliza Gonzalez) and the wounded cop as hostages, along with $16,000,000.
This film is actually a theatrical version of a 2005 Danish film called Ambulancen and since the last Gyllenhaal film I saw, The Guilty, was also based on a foreign film, I thought there would be some sort of connection, but those who saw The Guilty this is definitrly not the case.
Michael Bay fans willl be heaven here because this is the kind of story the man can produce in his sleep, but I just found myself having difficulty accepting a lot of what happens here in a context of realism. I loved the way the film opened...Will kisses his wife and baby goodbye, lying that he is enroute to a job interview. Once Will and Danny hijack that ambulance, this story just becomes a little hard to believe. I couldn't believe the entire LAPD could not get control of this ambulance because their pursuit of the vehicle was almost immediate, it's not like Danny and Will had this huge head start. I found it hard to believe that this cop somehow stayed alive as long as he did, and I almost checked out when Will and the EMT had to perform surgery, on the cop, while the ambulance was careening down the highway at 60 MPH.
There were some nice touches in the story that I didn't see coming though...the arrival of an FBI agent on the scene who had history with Danny and provided us with his rap sheet bringing the story to another level and especially an extremely effective moment when Will gets a phone call from is wife wanting to know why the interview is taking so long while she is watching the events on TV, blissfully unaware of hubby's involvment.
Once Will leaves for his "job Interview", Bay provides us with heart-stopping action, though I think investing in the realism of the situation could have been aided by a shorter running time. Jake Gyllenhall is electrifying in a performance that reminded me of a demented John McLane and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who was so good last year as Bobby Seale in The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a perfect mix of power and vulnerability as Will. Mention should also be made of Garrett Dillahunt as Captain Monroe, A Martinez as Danny's old friend, Papi, and especially Keir O'Donnell as the FBI agent. Can't believe this was the same guy who played Todd in Wedding Crashers. If action fans put their brain in check, there is fun to be had here.
Michael Bay, the director of some of our most famous action adventure classics, goes a little over the top with 2022's Ambulance, an often heart-stopping adventure that defies logic at every turn, rich with "Aw, come on" moments", that will provide entertainment for action fans as long as they don't think about it too much and just strap themselves in for the ride.
Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a financially strapped war vet fresh home from Afghanistan, who is drowning in bills because his baby had life-saving surgery from cancer. In order to take care of some bills, Will agrees to assist his brother, Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal) in robbing a bank. Unfortunately, the robbery goes terribly wrong with Will shooting a cop (Jackson White). In order to escape, Will and Danny hijack an ambulance, taking a tough as nails EMT worker (Eliza Gonzalez) and the wounded cop as hostages, along with $16,000,000.
This film is actually a theatrical version of a 2005 Danish film called Ambulancen and since the last Gyllenhaal film I saw, The Guilty, was also based on a foreign film, I thought there would be some sort of connection, but those who saw The Guilty this is definitrly not the case.
Michael Bay fans willl be heaven here because this is the kind of story the man can produce in his sleep, but I just found myself having difficulty accepting a lot of what happens here in a context of realism. I loved the way the film opened...Will kisses his wife and baby goodbye, lying that he is enroute to a job interview. Once Will and Danny hijack that ambulance, this story just becomes a little hard to believe. I couldn't believe the entire LAPD could not get control of this ambulance because their pursuit of the vehicle was almost immediate, it's not like Danny and Will had this huge head start. I found it hard to believe that this cop somehow stayed alive as long as he did, and I almost checked out when Will and the EMT had to perform surgery, on the cop, while the ambulance was careening down the highway at 60 MPH.
There were some nice touches in the story that I didn't see coming though...the arrival of an FBI agent on the scene who had history with Danny and provided us with his rap sheet bringing the story to another level and especially an extremely effective moment when Will gets a phone call from is wife wanting to know why the interview is taking so long while she is watching the events on TV, blissfully unaware of hubby's involvment.
Once Will leaves for his "job Interview", Bay provides us with heart-stopping action, though I think investing in the realism of the situation could have been aided by a shorter running time. Jake Gyllenhall is electrifying in a performance that reminded me of a demented John McLane and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who was so good last year as Bobby Seale in The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a perfect mix of power and vulnerability as Will. Mention should also be made of Garrett Dillahunt as Captain Monroe, A Martinez as Danny's old friend, Papi, and especially Keir O'Donnell as the FBI agent. Can't believe this was the same guy who played Todd in Wedding Crashers. If action fans put their brain in check, there is fun to be had here.