About the film (courtesy of Universal Pictures):
Decorated veteran Will Sharp (Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), desperate for money to cover his wife’s medical bills, asks for help from the one person he knows he shouldn’t – his adoptive brother Danny (Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal). A charismatic career criminal, Danny instead offers him a score: the biggest bank heist in Los Angeles history: $32 million. With his wife’s survival on the line, Will can’t say no.
All people need to hear is that Michael Bay has a new movie coming out and 95% of anyone that is familiar with his past works will instantly form an opinion. It’s going to be loud, explosive and choke full of implausible scenarios. Guess what? Ambulance checks about every single box that you’ve come to expect based on his track record of his previous directorial works. Here’s the thing, as long as people keep filling the theater seats, the Brinks trucks will keep on backing up to his doorstep with stacks of cash.
And speaking of stacks of cash, Ambulance brings another bank heist feature to the big screen. One might assume that with Bay’s predictability in method and the very familiar action of robbing a bank, that this film will flatline and end up D.O.A. by week two in the box office. Never underestimate Michael Bay’s ability to make the implausible palatable.
Yes, Ambulance is pretty unrealistic and very over the top. There are so many things that had to happen in just a certain way in order to keep this sensational story on the road. What really helps pull the audience in is the acting of three top billed actors; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jake Gyllenhaal and Eiza González. There’s good chemistry between the three and Gyllenhaal gives a performance that rivals his work in Nightcrawler (2014), where’s he’s driven but also very unhinged. Abdul-Mateen II brings a reluctant intensity of a person that knows failure is NOT an option. González brings an unwavering calmness that helps balance the tension while acting as the linchpin to everyone surviving the harrowing ordeal.
The breakneck pace of which the main part of the story plays out is exhausting, and I don’t mean this in a bad way. The intensity dialed up to an 11 and different things are being thrown at you left and right. Right about the time you think you’re going to be able to catch your breathe, Bay floors it with more shooting, crashes and explosions. And these are the scenes that make experiencing Ambulance in theaters, a preferred option. The adrenaline will be coursing through your body.
The runtime is a little longer I would have wanted at 136 minutes, but it isn’t that much of negative since there’s usually something going on that requires your attention. While Ambulance has a look similar to the Bad Boys franchise, it feels more emotionally weighted like Pain & Gain. Michael Bay does a solid job with the ingredients he has and makes them into a palatable main course for hungry audiences starving for action to eagerly consume.
Bottom line here is this. If you are in the least bit a fan of any previous Michael Bay film, you’ll most likely leave the theater satisfied. Ambulance is not a perfect movie by any means, but it doesn’t shy away from what it is. And that’s a wild two-plus hour thrill ride all across the streets of LA. It’s a little much with also a touch of emotion and softness which should make for a good time out at the theater.
See Ambulance only in theaters everywhere on Friday, April 8 with early evening showtimes tonight.
