Explosions, ammunition, and soaring drones. Stunning visuals and smooth cinematography with a touch of chilling music seasoned with comedy. All of these elements are encapsulated in Michael Bay’s movie, ‘Ambulance.’
Director of the ‘Transformers,’ ‘Pain and Gain’ and the ‘6 Underground’, Bay has taken up a low-budget Danish film called ‘Ambulance’ and concocted a satisfying action movie characterized by a roller-coaster of emotions, a gripping ending, and an overwhelming watch. The movie was released on the 8th of April, 2022, on the OTT streaming platform Amazon Prime with a total run-time of 136 minutes.
The narrative of the movie, written by Chris Fedak, revolves around two brothers, Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who are both raised by a bank-robbing criminal. While Danny grows up to become an infamous criminal, hunted by the FBI, Will traverses a different path and joins the military (marine, to be specific).
However, fate brings the two siblings back together when Will is in dire need of money to treat his dying wife, Amy (Moses Ingram), who has been diagnosed with cancer. Desperate to get the money, Will turns to Danny for help. Danny offers him monetary aid, but the plan is a little ‘out of the box.’
Danny plans on robbing the Federal Bank, which shelters 32 million dollars in cash. He lures Will into participating in the heist. Will, who has no alternative, ends up joining forces with Danny, but the plan goes horribly wrong.
What starts off as a pulsating heist ends up with the two brothers hijacking an ambulance as a last resort to escape. Here, they hold hostage an officer who Will shot, named Zach (Jackson White), and a tough EMT, Cam (Eiza González). Shot in the streets of Los Angeles, the duo must escape the pursuit of the police, FBI, and the LAPD Special Investigation Section and reach home to their family.
However, the real chaos starts unraveling when Danny asks his associate and friend Papi (A Martinez) to create a distraction to aid their escape.
Ambulance: The Plot
At the beginning of the film, we see one of our protagonists, Will Sharp looking anxious. The golden rays of the sun are seen falling on papers and pills while he is on a call with another person, requesting insurance so that he can pay for his wife’s cancer treatment.
The call bears no fruit, and our destitute main character decides to meet his criminal brother, Danny, to get money. Danny elaborates on the plan of robbing the Federal bank to Will, who, although hesitant at the beginning, decides to help his brother out. The plan nearly succeeds until officer Zach, a cop, intervenes to ask out a person in the bank, ultimately leading to him being held, hostage.
The situation intensifies when Zach’s colleague, Officer Mark, figures out the situation, leading to a massive shootout between Danny’s men and him. The Special Investigation Section (SIS) arrives at the scenario, and Danny’s men are gradually executed, leaving Will and Danny as the only survivors.
The brothers try to retreat to the garage, but Zach attempts to escape, leading to a scuffle among the three, during which he is accidentally shot by Will in the leg. Realizing that they are trapped in the bank building, the duo hijacks an ambulance containing Cam, who is treating Officer Zach, in an attempt to escape the building.
The plot of the movie is revealed, and things take a relentless turn after this as the criminals have no time to relax with the FBI and SIS chasing them breathlessly. After a tense chase that leads to cars soaring and crashing and helicopters erratically locating them, the trio hides in an alleyway where Cam tries to escape. However, failing to do and realizing her EMT responsibilities, she returns to treat Zach.
While the chase begins again after some respite, the condition of the cop seems grim. Cam gets Danny to help her use a defibrillator and asks Will to transfer blood to Zach. By now, it is evident to all the parties involved in the scene that Officer Zach is a very important asset.
The police could not just shoot the tires or ram police vehicles into the Ambulance because the injured cop was still present inside with another civilian, Cam. While this prevented the police from shooting the vehicle, it was a blessing in disguise for the criminals because the officer was the reason they were still alive and could formulate backup plans while still on the move.
Realizing that they were running out of options, Danny calls Papi, one of his father’s close associates, to create a diversion so they could lose the police in exchange for 8 million dollars. They know that they cannot stop because they would die if they did, so negotiations with the SIS and FBI were out of the scene completely. The chase continues.
Amidst the commotion and chaos, Zach begins to bleed out, and seeing no other option, Cam decides to perform surgery on him with the aid of Will and a few of her medical friends (who were on call). Despite Cam’s inexperience, the surgery is successful, and we get a glance into her backstory.
She was a medical student who got addicted to Speed and had to drop out of med school and become an EMT. She punishes herself by focusing only on her job while distancing herself from her family, friends, partner, etc.
Not knowing the success of the surgery, the SIS led by Munroe (Garett Dillahunt) orders snipers to shoot the criminals. FBI agent Anson Clark (Keir O’Donnell) warns Cam to take shelter beneath the stretcher. Cam, concerned about Zach’s life, warns the brothers about the snipers.
Here, Danny becomes aggressively impatient, wanting to shoot Cam but is stopped by Will, which leads to a quarrel between the two. However, Christopher Cross’ ‘Sailing‘ comes to the rescue, and both reconcile over this song.
The scene shifts to the Los Angeles River, where helicopters chase down the Ambulance while Danny shoots at them. This action-packed scene shows Will driving on the opposite sides of the lane, causing accidents and toppling over random food stalls. On Papi’s order, the diversion operation began. His son, Roberto (Jesse Garcia), drives an ambulance toward the police after filling it with explosives.
Jumping off the car and running away, he detonates the bombs resulting in grievous injuries to the officers. Amidst the destruction, Officer Mark finds Roberto and accidentally makes him shoot himself, which greatly agitates Papi. Will and Danny escape to Papi’s hideout, where Danny submits the agreed amount of money to Papi.
However, Papi demands that Danny and Will leave Zach and Cam behind as they witness his whole hideout, but Will refuses as that’s the moral thing to do. Will and Danny pair up to shoot Papi and his goons. However, paranoid and clouded while the shootings were happening, Cam accidentally shot Will while trying to protect herself and the officer.
Danny takes the Ambulance to a hospital. Here, he discovers Zach’s gun and flies into a rage when Cam tells him that she shot Will. Danny vows to kill Cam along with himself on live television. The film reaches a climactic end with the audience gripping their seats, wanting to know what unravels next. The music creates a gradual build-up within the atmosphere.
In the end, we see Will shooting Danny. Before dying, Danny apologizes to Will, who is rushed to the hospital for treatment. Cam secretly gives some of the money to Will’s wife for her treatment. In the end scene, we see Cam next to Lindsey, an injured girl in the hospital, after which the end credits start rolling.
Ambulance Review: Assessing the element of action
Ambulance is a raucous, relentless roller-coaster ride about the daunting escape of two brothers. The essence of the film is its action-packed scenes. The spectators witness car accidents and crashes, gunfire and explosives, muscular men executing strategies menacingly, senior officers wearing sunglasses accompanied by their dogs while hunting down goons, criminals, and badass paramedics.
In addition to that, we also see debris falling over, intense smoke and dust blowing around with a dash of fire in some cases, men shooting incessantly, and dresses flying around, which creates a lot of excitement and elation among watchers.
The movie surpasses all logic, like that one scene where Bay decided to incorporate surgery while the Ambulance is running away from the whole of the LA police department, the SIS, and the FBI. The concept in itself is so outrageous that it creates a moment of comedy as the watchers laugh hilariously or think twice about what exactly is happening.
The cinematography and editing of the movie are impeccable. Roberto De Angelis, the Director of photography, perfectly utilized shots of cameras and drones to create thrilling cinematography. No helicopter or vehicle is seen driving in one direction without a camera swooping in from another direction overhead to create a thrilling atmosphere and build-up.
The editing team gracefully oscillates from the situation of seriousness within the Ambulance while performing surgery to a climate of peace where two surgeons are interrupted while playing golf. Even the simplest of shots are filmed with grandiosity and ‘extra-ness.’
We even see moments of brotherhood, affection, and contestation amidst the chaos. The two brothers reconcile after a trifle by vibing to the music of Christopher Cross. The ending in itself was a tear-jerker for many as familial sentiments and relationships between long-lost siblings were ignited.
Ambulance review: Gyllenhaal Steals the Spotlight
Elevating the movie is the trio: Jake Gyllenhaal playing as Danny Sharp, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Will Sharp, and Eiza González as Cam. Abdul-Mateen is depicted as a morally right character with a good heart, a stoic man who receives praise at the end of the movie for saving the life of Officer Zach.
Parallel to him is his brother, Danny, who is depicted as an infamous criminal who has been tracked down for robbing banks by the FBI. González’s Cam is also a character that got my attention. Her backstory is quite devastating; a bright student pursuing medicine gets addicted to Speed and is forced to drop out and become an EMT. She punishes herself by distancing herself from her close ones.
Michael Bay ensures that he builds up the story of both of them properly through their backstory. Both her character and Abdul Mateen gain the sympathy of the viewers as they are torn people, punishing themselves for not being enough for themselves and their families. Meanwhile, Gyllenhaal’s character, Danny, is seen through differing lenses; a criminal who clearly loves his brother but would do anything to ensure he survives.
In my opinion, it is Jake Gyllenhaal who really brings the movie and its essence together. He is a very flexible actor who can carry out most roles efficiently. He is portrayed as a hypermasculine guy who befits the role of a crazy criminal, framing a perfect example of an anti-hero.
His affection towards his brother, especially in the end when he apologizes to him, is very heart-wrenching. In his hands, the role of Danny curdles selfish, ulterior motives combined with his act of remaining funny and crazy.
Our verdict
Ambulance is one of those action movies one should give watch at least once. Even though Bay has sometimes gone a little extra with the characters and the visuals of the movie, the film encapsulates what an action movie should be like.
The incessant running around, the sheer insanity of the crashes and toppling over of food stalls, and the chilling visuals are some of the few striking features of this movie. The character build-ups are also quite interesting, but one thing that does tick me off is the immediate recruiting of Will as the driver in an elaborate, intricate plan involving a bank robbery.
Ambulance is definitely an entertaining watch, a film that does not question the illogicality of certain things but simply surrenders to it. But deep down, it is a film about friendship, brotherhood, and redeeming oneself.
Our Rating: ⭐ (3/5).
Also, read: 24 Movies Like Ambulance That Are A Must Watch
