It’s well worth the ride.
At this point , if you settle to go see aMichael Bay motion-picture show , you bed what you ’re in for . The managing director ’s patented " Bayhem " is always on full showing , whether it ’s car crash into things and exploding , or cars bend into robots and exploding , or people built like motorcar walking off from real cars that are exploding . This is the wild , dumb , reptile brain stuff that pic are built on , and Michael Bay is an expert at pass water it all look as incredible and ridiculous as potential . His fresh plastic film , Ambulance(stylized asAmbuLAnce , a very comical affair to say out aloud ) , is all of this and more , mix together a heist secret plan and a family unit drama inside the melting pot that is a hurry ambulance tearing its way down the main road of Los Angeles .
The picture show , which is base on the 2005 Danish moving picture of the same name , stars Jake Gyllenhaal as induction - happy , cashmere turtle - wearing , career criminal Danny Sharp and Yahya Abdul - Mateen II as his conflicted accomplice and adopted brother Will , a struggling regular army veteran who agrees to help Danny rob a camber in downtown LA so that he can ante up his family ’s hospital bills . The stickup fail awry when a plucky young law officer stumble into it while attempt to flirt with his bank - cashier jam , and in the ensue chaos the military officer is fritter away , and an ambulance control by a steely EMT named Cam Thompson ( Eiza González ) rushes to his aid . Running through the belly of the bank to avoid the cops , Danny and Will hop inside and hijack the ambulance as it speeds out of the parking garage , leading an army of LAPD , SWAT , and the feds on a merry Salmon P. Chase through the Los Angeles freeways .
Here is a fact : Movies are just when they ’re about a crowd of people snare inside a fast - make a motion fomite . ThinkUnstoppable , Speed , Air Force One . Here is another fact : Michael Bay is a good director of practiced movies . ( What ’s that you say?6 Underground ? Never heard of it.)Ambulancehas all of his tic : American flags blow in the breeze like the capes of warriors in Renaissance paintings . The characters in the film are American Heroes doing thing That American Heroes Do , Men With Wives and Men With Kids ( and , in one case , With Husband ) whose business is to Help People and Keep Them Safe . The tv camera loiter just as long on gunslinger and musculus and the chrome grilles of expensive sportswoman gondola as it does on the " To Protect and Serve " emblazoned on the room access of the constabulary cabin cruiser . There ’s even something to say for the soft indictment of the US health care organization and the futility of veterinarian benefits — a guy has to rob a bank just to get enough money for his wife ’s experimental surgery . In Bay ’s worldly concern , even the bad guys are Just Trying To Do What ’s Right .
Universal Pictures
Ambulanceis exceedingly big and highly tacky , and , for all its objectionable racket and explosions and roaring car engines , it is gorgeous to front at . Now we have our response to the question : When are director go to start using drones for their intended use , which is swoop up around buildings and through windows and under bridge circuit to get the kinds of dizzying footage no other camera could achieve ? Of naturally the guy to visualize this one out would be Michael " How Many Exploding car Can We Fit Into One Scene " Bay . When he ’s not set up his heroes in extreme close - ups or zooming after cars on the highway , he ’s flying cameras through the aura around skyscrapers and under motortruck , getting the impossible shots that make you require to cast your hands in the air like you ’re on a rollercoaster . Every detail is heightened : Sweat stands out from actors ' brows , vehicles scream past the camera , daylight is so bright blank it ’s about drear .
The only downside to the whole enterprise , really , is how long the picture show is . At over two hours , the effect of zipping down the highway with a bunch of guys waving weapons around is somewhat dampen by the time you get to the death , and mess of scenes almost do n’t belong to . There ’s a prolong tangent with a local mob , and one monumental set piece of music involve Gyllenhaal leaning out of the ambulance windowpane to shoot a hired gun at two whirlybird wasadded in at the last minute of arc , and it shows . A lot of the movie feels this way , like everyone involve was throwing dotty musical theme on the table and state , " Why not ? ? " With an thought this dim-witted and tight , you could understand the impulse to add in as much excitement as potential .
The fun ofAmbulancecomes from its throwback nature , no doubt helped by having a short shoot on a $ 40 million budget , a expectant star sign for those who were distressed that studio - funded $ 200 million superhero blockbusters spelled the oddment for the small mid - budget natural action motion-picture show . With nonstop I - can’t - believe - I’m - seeing - this excitement and a playful sense of body fluid — include really funny banter and a lengthy shot involving golfing doctors explain a nailbiting OR over FaceTime — Ambulancefeels like a return key to spring for a director who never left .
