REVIEW #160 Ambulance (2020)

Michael Bay returns to direct this action thriller and the film follows Will Sharp, an army veteran who is desperate to find the money for his wife’s experimental surgery. Turning to his adoptive brother Danny for help, he is dragged into a $32 million bank heist that goes terribly wrong. Forced to flee in an ambulance that’s carrying a shot cop and an EMT worker.

CAST & THE ACTING 

The cast is led by Yahya Abdul Mateen the second and Jake Gyllenhaal who play William and Danny Sharp respectively. The pair both deliver great performances! Gyllenhaal the slightly psychotic, yet incredibly smart criminal and Mateen the admirable war veteran who is just pulled back into a life of crime through desperation. I would also say that there is a third lead actor in Eiza Gonzàlez, who plays the EMT hostage inside the ambulance. All three worked really well together and their performances were responsible for creating the tension that is the centrepiece of the film. Gyllenhaal was very over the top and actually pretty comedic at times, he created someone the audience routes for even if Danny Sharp wasn’t a very good person at his core. One performance that surprised me was Garret Dillahunt who played Captain Monroe, granted there were a few aspects to his character that were a little gimmicky but his actual performance provided a nice insight into a police Captain dedicated to his craft. Overall I think the acting across the board was good, there were a few performances that played on stereotypes but that was mainly from the supporting cast, who played the other bank robbers or the Latino gangsters. The central cast were great and helped create the tension the film relies on. 

THE STORYLINE 

I stayed away from the trailer for this film, so I went in without expectations and had no knowledge of the plot prior to going in, apart from the fact it was a bank heist film. I have seen hundreds of bank heist movies and I can’t remember being overly impressed with many of them but Ambulance felt unique in the sense that the main feature is the prolonged car chase set within the Ambulance they escape in. There were two factors that really improved the plot, the shot cop in the back of the ambulance and the EMT that was trying to save his life. Adding those ensured the tension remained high, these criminals couldn’t let the cop die because then they would lose their leverage over the police and the police would be almost guaranteed to kill them. The EMT having to perform medical procedures in a high speed car chase is one way to keep audiences on the edge of their seat. Then of course we have the trademark from Michael Bay, the huge explosions, high intensity car chase. Some of them felt very unnecessary, granted the fact they had an injured cop in the ambulance meant the police couldn’t ram the vehicle but it almost felt like the police cars were purposely trying to crash to create the biggest scene possible and when you get that feeling, it’s probably a little too over the top. But it does make for good entertainment and creates a lot of excitement nonetheless. What I was surprised about was how strong the core characters were, the adoptive brothers had a really interesting dynamic that come full circle and finished well. The EMT Cam was such a complex character, showing a snip of her before the chase provided some nice context for her characters psyche. Even officer Mark had a nice story, determined to save his partner and throw a few spanners in the Sharp brothers plans. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

Explosions, explosions, explosions! Michael Bay knows how to create an exciting car chase, a lot felt over the top but despite that it did look great. I’d imagine being on set with those real explosions is quite nerve racking, especially if they’re going off every 10 seconds. A lot of the film was set inside the ambulance and the camerawork was crucial in generating the tension and intensity that the film needed to sustain for the 2 hour run time. They almost created two different sets between the back of the ambulance and up front in the drivers seat, this worked well because it made the back look so chaotic, it was never calm and always loud. The soundtrack was great, I do appreciate the moments where the song is a direct juxtaposition to the events of the film and there were a couple of scenes like this in Ambulance. Having busy LA as the setting added to the intensity and created some nice shots to piece the film together. 

OVERALL (8/10)

As far as car chases go, this is definitely the longest one I’ve seen in film but it was probably the best one too. It delivered a unique element to the bank heist genre and by having the dying cop and the EMT as hostages it ensured the intensity was high all the time. The film could have been a little shorter and still achieved what it did, the 2 hour 16 minute run time was a little much but I do enjoy long films so I didn’t mind. There were some elements to the plot that were implemented for comedy which I felt could have been left out but overall it did have me on the edge of my seat for most of the film and the tension certainly gets your blood pressure high at times. In regards to the cinematography, it all looked good and it was certainly entertaining but very much over the top in typical Michael Bay fashion. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this film and the key cast performed really well. Definitely get out to the cinema to watch this one, take full advantage of the Bayhem Ambulance portrays! 

Thanks for reading.

Callan