Movie Review: Ambulance

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

A fun Michael Bay thriller. 

When one goes to a Michael Bay film, they are not excepting Ingmar Bergman. One simply wants some fun action and fast-moving excitement. This movie does a good job at providing this. While Michael Bay has become a bit of a punchline for many film critics, it cannot be denied that the man has a talent for directing action scenes and that is perfectly shown here. The majority of this movie is simply one long extended action scene. Yet despite any faults, I can't say that I was ever bored watching this movie and that is definitely an accomplishment. As much as he loves over the top explosions this film shows he knows when to use them to their strongest effectiveness. The chase does not start off with the over-the-top explosions but instead they are gradually and effectively built up to. Plus, when they arrive, they provide all the over-the-top fun one could ask for. While the characters are not complex, they fill their roles in this movie quite well. Jake Gyllenhaal is a lot of fun as a truly evil villain. While this character is as over the top as any of the action scenes, he is also just as fun and somehow manages not to go so over the top that the scenes with him become a joke. He is still threatening and a little creepy and therefore we truly believe that he is a danger to the other characters. Eiza González provides the most likable performance as a hostage. This is a really likable and relatable character, and she provides us with a reason to care what happens in the story. While not every emotional scene works, it is because of her that the ones that do work, work as well as they do. 

Like many Michael Bay films, the major faults lie in the dialogue and humor. Much of the dialogue sounds like it is trying to hard to sound like the way people actually talk and unfortunately ends up not sounding like how anyone would talk. Much of this dialogue feels incredibly forced and awkward and therefore takes one out of the story. There is quite a bit of humor here, but I can't say I laughed once during the picture. I did groan at a few jokes though. This movie, as many of you could guess, has a storyline that is as conventional as they come and there are times when it reminded me too much of other and better movies. I also did not like the way this film did not dive much into Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's character of the villain's brother who reluctantly goes along with his brother's evil scheme. This is an interesting idea, of how much you can morally compromise while still being a good person. However in an attempt to make this character more sympathetic, the movie simply ignores this question, and comes off as overly simplistic and even a bit naive. You simply can't have a character rob a bank and shoot a man and just simply brush these things aside to say he is a likable character. 

This is not a great movie by any means, but it has quite a few scenes that show Michael Bay doing what he does best.