Based on an 80-minute movie from over 15 years ago, Ambulance is Michael Bay once again being as Michael Bay as possible. And if you remember one thing by the time the end credits have rolled it will be just how much Michael Bay likes to use drones now.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Will Sharp, a young military veteran who is struggling to get the money required to get his wife the surgery she needs. He decides to visit his brother, Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal), and ask him for a big favour. It turns out that his timing couldn't be better/worse, as Danny is planning a large bank robbery that day and wants a man on the team he can fully trust. Danny has robbed many banks, and he doesn't like to hurt or kill people. Will reluctantly accepts the offer to get in on what could be a massive payday. Things don't go to plan, which leads to Danny and Will fleeing the law in an ambulance that still has a paramedic, Cam (Eiza González), inside, treating a wounded police officer.
Where Ambulance works best is in the relationship between Danny and Will, who may not be brothers in the strictest sense (Will was taken in by Danny's family when he was very young), but show, at every opportunity, that they absolutely consider themselves real brothers. There's also an interesting dynamic between the two when it comes to planning their endgame, with Danny constantly figuring out odds and options while Will just does whatever he can to keep others safe.
Gyllenhaal and Abdul-Mateen II are both excellent in their roles. The former is a blend of charm and danger, the latter is a man who immediately regrets a mistake he made. Both feel like a good fit, and they have nice chemistry with one another. González does equally well, working out her own best way to survive the situation while trying to keep a patient alive. She quickly sizes up who is the better of the two men, and it’s nice to have a central female figure in this kind of movie that isn’t “potential love interest”. Garret Dillahunt is great fun as the main authority figure pursuing the fleeing robbers, Keir O’Donnell is also very good, an agent from a different bureau who has a history with one of the brothers, and Olivia Stambouliah delivers a constant line of dry humour as a tech whizz assisting the police operation.
It’s just a shame that this is ultimately hampered by Bay doing what he does. Some parts still work really well - the bank robbery itself is a great mix of escalating tension (in some ways) and violence, there are some shots that throw viewers into, and under, carnage in a way unlike any others I can think of - and there’s certainly a good sense of momentum once the leads end up in their getaway vehicle. Sadly, overediting spoils a number of stunts, the constant drone camerawork becomes tiresome, even when it is delivering some stunning shots, and, perhaps ironically, the film could stand to lose at least twenty minutes from the runtime (ironic because of the overediting negatively affecting other aspects of the movie). There are also one or two characters too many (the two worst of them being a criminal kingpin and a cop out for revenge) and a grand final plan that seems to make absolutely no sense at all. I am not sure how the original film plays out, and I am keen to see it one day, but writer Chris Fedak must take the blame for some of the mis-steps here, flaws that really weaken what should have been a strong third act.
Michael Bay has his fans, I am sometimes one of them, and this has enough onscreen that will generally keep them/me happy. It’s just a shame that the concept couldn’t have been placed in the hands of someone with a similar sense of scale and bombast who could also maintain a sense of fluidity throughout. This is a film designed to flow, a river that develops from a trickle of water and ends at a dangerous waterfall. Bay ensures that it is simply a series of ever-increasing puddles, satisfying to hop from one to the other, but without any real, natural, connections between them.
6/10
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