{"id":18133,"date":"2022-04-07T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=18133"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:12:56","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:12:56","slug":"review-ambulance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-ambulance\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Ambulance<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To the dude in my senior film studies seminar who earned eye rolls with his final project declaring Michael Bay a genius, I owe you a decades-late apology. With each over-the-top movie, the director himself makes a surprisingly cogent argument for auteur theory as every single shot and every single cut (god, so many cuts) bear his distinctive stamp as a filmmaker. Ambulance<\/em> is the ne plus ultra of his oeuvre, with every frame declaring his authorship. Like the rest of his filmography, this action film is full of big guns, fast cars, 360 shots, seat-shaking sound, and utter nonsense at every whiplash-inducing turn. Yet when so many big-budget movies feel like they were directed by a committee \u2014 or no one at all \u2014 Ambulance<\/em> could be directed by no one else. It never lets up for its 136 minutes, thrusting the audience into the midst of an hours-long high-speed chase across Los Angeles, leaving viewers reeling and frankly delighted. It ultimately goes on for far too long, but at least that\u2019s on brand for the director as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To its credit, Ambulance<\/em> doesn\u2019t waste time getting to the action. It spends scant moments introducing Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), hammering home his lack of money, ill wife (Moses Ingram), and infant son, before he\u2019s thrust into a bank heist with his brother Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal). Will isn\u2019t given much detail on Danny\u2019s grand plan \u2014 and neither are we \u2014 but Danny promises him millions, more than enough to pay for his wife\u2019s experimental surgery that insurance won\u2019t cover despite Will\u2019s pleading calls. The robbery (inevitably) goes south \u2026 or north? West? I don\u2019t know. I have little sense of L.A. geography, and neither does the movie. The chaos leads the brothers to hijack an ambulance with EMT Cam (Eiza Gonz\u00e1lez) and an injured cop (Jackson White) inside. With the LAPD and the FBI on their tail, Danny and Will tear through downtown Los Angeles and beyond as they try to escape with their loot \u2014 and their lives \u2014 intact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambulance<\/em> is your typical level of Bay bombast. Sadly, it lacks the satirical bite (and ample humor) of the underrated Pain & Gain<\/em>, and it isn\u2019t really trying to say much, other than a brief commentary on an American healthcare system that is so shitty that you have to rob a bank to try to save your wife\u2019s life. TV writer Chris Fedak (Chuck<\/em>, Prodigal Son<\/em>) adapted the screenplay from a 2005 Danish film, and the only idea the movie really cares about is the importance of family, like we\u2019re watching a Fast & Furious<\/em> spin-off or something. The movie is as empty-headed as one of its characters \u2014 a crew member who wears Birkenstocks to the heist \u2014 but it\u2019s so full of fun set pieces and bonkers moments that it\u2019s difficult to be too annoyed by its stupidity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Danish original was only 80 minutes, Bay\u2019s Ambulance<\/em> speeds past the two-hour mark, losing gas as it approaches its never-ending finale. It tries to do too much, packing in a few more scenes than it really needs and lessening the impact of the film as a whole. It\u2019s never boring, but its excess does start to finally feel excessive in its third act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Given all that, what\u2019s most impressive about Ambulance<\/em> might be its $40 million budget<\/a>. How this huge, action-filled movie got made for such a relatively small amount \u2014 looking like it cost at least twice that much \u2014 is a mystery that can\u2019t be accounted for just by product placement by Heineken non-alcoholic beer, ADT home security, and \u2026 Citrix workplace software. (Because branded content on Bloomberg wasn\u2019t enough to get that B2B lead generation?) It appears far less CGI-heavy than most blockbusters, with every car crash and gunshot feeling real and consequential. Meanwhile, as so many filmmakers use drones to cheaply imitate the effects of shots that were formerly only accessible with access to helicopters or planes, Bay takes full advantage of the crafts\u2019 unique maneuverability in innovative ways. There are multiple shots where the camera dive-bombs toward the ground, almost skimming the facades of L.A. buildings. I\u2019m almost thankful that the film isn\u2019t playing in 4DX; getting thrown around with shots like these (on top of all the car crashes) would leave the audience bruised and nauseated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bay likely saved some money on his cast; the bench isn\u2019t as deep as many of his films have been in the past. However, Gyllenhaal alone is working hard enough for a half-dozen A-listers. In one scene, he puts on a full-face bulletproof mask (similar to those in Bay\u2019s last film, Netflix\u2019s 6 Underground<\/em>), and he somehow still makes each emotion visible. You feel every bit of his character\u2019s intensity every second he\u2019s on screen. Abdul-Mateen isn\u2019t given as much to do as his co-star (or even as he was in last year\u2019s Candyman<\/em><\/a>), but he\u2019s still compelling, and this feels like another step to even bigger things. Gonz\u00e1lez leaps over the low bar set by Bay for his actresses in the past. Her Cam isn\u2019t given a ton of characterization, but the same criticism can be said for everyone else on screen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambulance<\/em> doesn\u2019t match the best of L.A. heist cinema like Heat<\/em> and Point Break<\/em>, but it is a bananas-emoji-earning crowd pleaser. This is the director at his best, and it\u2019s not because he\u2019s moved away from the tendencies that generally irk critics. Instead, this is the height of Bayhem<\/a>: it\u2019s basically one long car chase stretched out to feature length that never gives the audience time to breathe \u2014 or think. It\u2019s big, silly, and an absolute blast. \"\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

“Ambulance” is in theaters Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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