Summary
The master of Bayhem returns with a kitchen sink approach to a chase across LA that is slick as it is chaotic.
The last decade has been an interesting one for Michael Bay. Although dominated by tentpole releases of various Transformers titles, he’s still managed to pepper his trademark blend of Bayhem throughout fun outings like Pain & Gain and 6 Underground. AMBULANCE, arriving with an energy that doesn’t let up for the duration, is a throwback of sorts to the films that defined him in the 90s.
It opens on a sharply topical moment, one in which war veteran Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is unable to secure medical funding for his wife. After reaching out to adopted brother Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal) for help, he is soon dragged along as the driver on a federal bank heist that goes very wrong.
When a cop is shot, Will and Danny steal an ambulance and take EMT Cam Thompson (Eiza González) hostage. Pursued by no-nonsense LA cop Monroe (Garret Dillahunt) and FBI Agent Anson Clark (Keir O’Donnell), this series of characters coalesce into a singular railway event that does not stop for a second.
In terms of pure pace and adrenaline, it’s somewhat reminiscent of Speed, a film that came out in the same era as Bay’s first action flicks. There’s a vaguely claustrophobic element to the titular setting, one that adds to the tension of the whole affair, but Chris Fedak’s script operates on the principal of escalation. There’s a pile-on of new elements, from rival gangs to old friends, always threatening to topple over and upend the whole apple cart.
Instead, Bay discombobulates the viewer with the hyperkinetic nature of cinematographer Roberto De Angelis’ photography, pinging around like a kid hopped up on red cordial. A series of aerial drone shots work on the mechanics of a rollercoaster ride, swooping from high to low angles in a heartbeat. Bay’s trademark 360-degree shots have been elevated to featured player. You may scoff, but this is high-concept action cinema at its most immersive.
In the more ridiculous moments, González’s character performs surgery in a moving vehicle while getting instructions via videoconference. Yet this somehow only endears us to González all the more, an actor who does more to ground the film than any of the other players. Which is not to dismiss Abdul-Mateen, a kind of anti-hero for the film who adds gravitas and pathos to every scene he’s featured in. Gyllenhaal, continuing his series of remakes about Danish essential services (after The Guilty), gets to play an increasingly unhinged character he’s clearly enjoying as much as we do.
AMBULANCE may not change the way you think about movies, and nor should you expect this to be a west coast version of Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead. Even when swerving chaotically over the highways and byways of the City of Angels, Bay and Fedak know how to stick to the lanes that will drive them straight into maximum adrenaline for that moment.
2022 | USA | DIRECTOR: Michael Bay | WRITERS: Chris Fedak | CAST: Jake Gyllenhaal,Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza González | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 136 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 7 April 2022 (AUS), 8 April 2022 (USA)
