When I saw the trailer for this movie, I was totally out. I was not even planning on seeing it, but then some of the movie podcasters I listen to mentioned it, and they said that it was pretty good, so I was like okay, I will give it a chance after all, and I was glad I did. Ambulance was intense from start to finish, and it was executed excellently with solid acting as well. There were times when it was a little over the top, or when it slowed down a little too much, but I guess it cannot be going at full boar for all two plus hours. It also slipped in a few moral quandaries and emotional moments as well, all while taking shots at the treatment of veterans who have sacrificed a ton for our country.
Ambulance is about two brothers, Will and Danny. Will is a veteran, who served overseas, and when he was young, he was taken in by Danny’s dad. Danny followed in his dad’s footsteps. This means that he is a robber but at an elite level. Will is down on his luck. He is unemployed, and he cannot get any help from the VA, so he is vulnerable. So when Danny calls and has Will come down to the shop and propositions him, Will cannot say no. His wife needs surgery, and he needs the money for it. They are only robbing a measly $32 Million in downtown LA, what could possibly go wrong, it is just a quick and easy job in and out…
Until they have to take a cop hostage, and a shoot out ensues right as they are leaving, so basically the whole crew is eradicated at the bank except for Danny and Will. They end up high jacking an ambulance with a cop in it that Will shot, and they also take the medic, Cam, with them to help keep the cop alive. Then the chase ensues. Will and Danny only got out with $16 million dollars, the other bag was lost, but they managed to go all around Los Angles causing chaos and destruction with a tail of cops being strung along. There are multiple times, when it feels like they are cornered, but they find their way out of it, but Danny has no choice, but to call in the big guns, so he calls in the cartel to help him and Will escape.
This whole film felt like watching someone playing Grand Theft Auto, and if you go to Letterboxd and read some of the sentence length reviews, many of them say the same thing. It is not in a bad way, it looked great, and it was intense and high pressure the whole time, it was just a little over the top for a real-world heist. In Grand Theft Auto, there are levels to the crimes that are committed. So one star would be basic, and then five star would be on this level. The more damage, lives lost, and money taken, the higher the level of stars will be given. So clearly after taking a massive amount of money and leaving wreckage in their wake across all of Los Angeles, Will and Danny would have earned a five-star rating if they were able to escape.
This leads me to my next question, was the whole chase worth it for the city/police. Obviously for the sake of justice, one cannot just allow people to steal millions of dollars and get away with it, but the amount of damage that was done had to of exceeded the $16 million they had in the back of their ambulance. Not only was there a large loss monetarily with the destruction, but there was also a large number of lives lost. There were so many accidents that had to of been fatal. Plus, there was a large amount of personal property that was destroyed as well. So although Will and Danny ended up getting caught, it does not seem like it was worth it for the police and the city to put so many resources at risk, when they knew who the perpetrators were, and they could have called off the chase, and just set up a different trap to catch them. There are so many security check points now, and media is so wide spread, that if their identities were blasted out everywhere, they would not have made it far. I know the PR would look bad for the police if they just let them go, but which is worst?
This film also raised some level of a moral quandary. It was hard to know who to root for. Danny was clearly a bad guy, but there was sympathy for Will, even though he was the one who shot the cop, he clearly had the moral conscious. He felt bad about it, and he was willing to help in anyway possible, but he also kept going with his brother’s plan. There were multiple times when he had the chance to back out, but he continued to go. At the same time there was still sympathy for him because he was doing this for his family. Will needed the money to protect his wife. He served his country, but now his country would not look out for him, so he felt like he had no other choice than to rob a bank with his brother.
The acting in this film was also superb, Jake Gyllenhaal gave a disturbing performance. He just has the perfect look in his eyes, where it seems like he is about to snap at any second, but there is one strand holding his sanity together. There are scenes when he is talking on the phone, or he is threatening the nurse in the back, where he seems crazed. His expressions are so well done. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II also did a good job of playing the sympathetic figure. Although he ended up being responsible for some terrible things, I could not help but to continue to cheer for him, and hope that he would come out with what he needed. Finally, there was Eliza Gonzalez, who was the medic in the ambulance. She started out as cold and distant, but as she got out of her comfort zone, more of her emotions started to pour out, and it was played perfectly. The three of them in the ambulance playing off each other worked so well. There was great chemistry between them.
Their performances help to draw out the emotion of the story. There are so many heart strings being pulled on. Most of them are related to the strong bond of family. At the end of the movie, it pulled some serious emotions from me, which I was not expecting to have in an ambulance chase film, but the predominate feeling that this film creates is anxiety and stress. Basically, the whole film as the viewer, you are on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to go wrong. The heist went wrong, the medical issues the cop had in the back of the ambulance, and the partnership with the cartel, nothing went as planned. There were so many things to go wrong that the anxiety made the two hours go by quick. There were only a few low moments, but they were few and far between.
This was a Michael Bay Film, and he is known as one of the masters of the action genre in film, and he held up to that reputation in this in this movie. The explosions, crashes, and action sequences were filmed with precision and created many great moments. There was also some creativity involved as well. There were many shots where the camera would be flying up the side of a building do a flip and be going back down the building as it went back to the action, it is hard to describe, but it was unique, and it worked well within the film. Also the car with dummy in the driver seat that also had a massive machine gun in it to shoot the cops was a wild creation.
There is one problem I had with the film, and that is the money at the end. Cam sneakily gives Will’s wife a brick of cash at the crime scene, and the movie leads you to believe Will’s wife gets away with it. There is no way this is happening. The wife was driven to the crime scene by the cops, and the money was in the baby carrier, so now she cannot put the kid back in the carrier, and she is definitely going to be taken back home by the cops. Also she is in the hospital right next to the cops with a massive brick of cash. I just do not see her coming out of this on top, so then she would get arrested, and Cam would get arrested, it just would not end well.
This movie is well worth seeing, and it is definitely one that would be better in the theaters, so go out and see it. The car chases and action sequences are always better on a big screen with a great sound system to go with it. Also to see Gyllenhaal’s crazed eyes on the big screen is a bonus. This was one of the better films of the year, and it has earned four stars, go see it! Do not let the trailer fool you!
Other Movies This Week:
Kick-Ass 2: Movies that subvert the superhero genre are refreshing, but they need to be done right, and this was not as good as the first one.
Phone Booth: It is like a Saw movie, but with less gore and not as riveting.
The Simpsons Movie: This is what made me a Simpsons watcher, it may not be a masterpiece, but when I was 12, I fell in love, and even though I knew most of the jokes coming, I still chuckled.
Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child: This was by far the worst Nightmare on Elm Street. It went away from the formula and made an awful movie.
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare: Slightly back to the formula, but the video game scene was so bad, that it took me completely out of the movie.
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off: The story of the rise of a legend. All legends seem to have something that makes them great, and Hawk definitely had it. He sacrificed a ton to reach the pinnacle of his sport. The ending was also depressing as it showed the mortality of the star as he continues to try and push the boundaries in a dangerous manner.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Just as bad as the first, not idea how this is a franchise that is going to get a third movie. Growing up tails was my favorite Sonic character, but not even that nostalgia could save this film even a little bit. There was a five-minute dance scene that seemed like it just wanted to make this movie tik-tokable.
GoodFellas: It was good, but not great, probably what will be my most unpopular movie opinion ever.
New Rankings:
Ambulance: 4 Stars
Kick-Ass 2: 2.5 Stars
Phone Booth: 2.5 Stars
The Simpsons Movie: 3 Stars
Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child: 1 Star
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare: 2 Stars
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off: 3.5 Stars
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: 1.5 Stars
GoodFellas: 3.5 Stars
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