Ambulance, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Eiza González, had all the ingredients of a Michael Bay film:
Beautiful cinematography
Shaky camera work
Fast editing
Real stunts and action
Extremely attractive people in everyday jobs.
Just Because it has all the same ingredients as other classic Bay films such as The Rock, Transformers, or The Island, doesn’t make the movie good. I think he left out a few eggs for something.
I had a blast watching this movie, but not in the way it was intended. I don’t remember the last time I laughed out loud so hard from my gut.
The premise starts out strong and ripe for a Michael Bay film; a heist gone wrong, a cop shot, and the only way out is in the ambulance transporting said cop. They need to keep the officer alive, so they take a paramedic hostage, and chaos ensues.
After this point, for me the logic of the movie never made sense, and made it difficult to take this movie seriously, at least as serious as you can take a Michael Bay movie. I knew going in that the action would be over the top, the camera would never stop moving, and actors would deliver lines like David Caruso on CSI (yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
What ultimately did it for me was the contradicting logic. These guys are fighting as hard as they can to keep this wounded officer alive because, if they become cop killers, they know there is no way they will make it out alive, or they’ll go to prison for the rest of their life. But, during the pursuit, as police chase them around LA, they don’t hold back on firing guns at helicopters and police cars, and ramming them off bridges at 70 miles per hour.
Likewise, the Police keep saying they have to be careful because a brother in blue is on board, yet they use the harshest tactics that could easily kill everyone in the ambulance.
The best way to describe this movie is like the video game Grand Theft Auto, with a 5 star wanted level. In the game the more “wanted” you are, the harder the police are on you. At 5 stars, swat and military come after you, and they’re hell bent on killing you with extreme prejudice.
The drone cinematography set this movie apart from other Michael Bay movies. Many shots featured stunning visuals, but some seemed unnecessary. I doubt this is the last we’ve seen of the excessive drone shots
Occasionally I can get behind over the top action and illogical sequences, however, what ultimately hurt this film was its depiction of police violence, and violence on police. Our nation is divided right now with situations like what happened to George Floyd. And even in Tulsa, where the Brothers Brotastic are from, there’s a controversial police encounter involving the shooting death of Terence Crutcher, as well as the death of Tulsa Police Sergeant Craig Johnson who’s killer had been convicted the week we saw this movie. These situations, along with countless others across the nation made some scenes in Ambulance hard to watch, and they take you out of the movie at times.
Andrew gives this movie 1 ticket; he’s glad he saw the movie in theaters, but is not rushing to see this movie again anytime soon.
Philip gives this movie 2 tickets; although he sees the flaws that Andrew sees, they are not enough to take him away from the joy and experience of seeing a Michael Bay movie on the Big Screen. He knew it was a movie filled with Bayhem and no much else, and it delivered.
