Ambulance is the latest Michael Bay ‘Bayhem’ movie following two robbers as they hijack an ambulance in an attempt to escape the scene, leading to an all-out race around LA in an edge of your seat action movie that will keep you heart racing throughout and could well be one of Michael Bay’s best movies in a long time.

This may involve a few more spoilers about the movie, so if you don’t want to know everything, come back once you have seen the film. This is also more for a bit of fun, with some of the suggesting being more about fun of being picky for no reason.

Up 1 – Will Sharp

Will Sharp is a veteran marine who hasn’t been able to find a place in the world after his military days, he has a new-born, and his wife needs an operation no insurance company will cover. He turns to his criminal brother for a loan, only to find himself dragged into a bank robbery, agreeing to help if things are done smoothly without anyone getting hurt. Will won’t let anyone get hurt after the brothers end up in the Ambulance, using his own training in military to help where needed, despite being the driver for most of the escape. Will, will get compared to General Hummel from ‘The Rock’ as man who has turned to crime because his country has abandoned him when he needed help from them, a man that will play the villain, but refusing to do any harm to anyone involved.

Down 1 – Referencing His Own Movies

During one of the opening sequences of meeting the characters involved, with meet Officer Zach and Officer Mark who are talking about asking a woman out, when Mark gives a speech about what he heard in ‘The Rock’ about ‘Losers always whine about their best, Winners go home and fuck the prom queen,’ before getting into a discussion about ‘The Rock’ movie, while the younger only knows him as an actor who was once a wrestler. To complete their interactions, they go they are going to turn up like Bad Boys. We don’t need a director to pump in lines about his previous movies, it feels arrogant, as well as constantly trying to play into the age gap in movies, which Marvel did with Spider-Man.

Up 2 – The Relentless Nature of the Action

The action in Ambulance is non-stop once the robbery starts, with the chaotic robbery and wild shootout, leading straight into the chase around the city. The chase around the city will feel like we are watching ‘Speed’ because the cops can’t get close to the vehicle because of the hostage onboard. The chases might be lots of flashy corner taking, mixed with car crashes it only adds to the chaos we are experiencing along the way.

Down 2 – Too Many Cops?

How many cops do we need to see trying to stop one ambulance, as we know they can’t bump into the ambulance, more just guide it to where they want it, but we end up seeing endless amounts of vehicles getting damaged along the way, instead of keeping the situation calmly trailing the ambulance, which will be better for the city, causing less damage to everything involved. Sure, this does add to the action, seeing the chaos caused, damage in typical Bayhem movies, but you must ask the bigger questions here.

Up 3 – Cam Thompson

Cam Thompson is the paramedic who gets taken hostage, she is known in the area as being the best at getting her patients to the hospital within 20 minutes, keeping them alive while others might not succeed, but also being cold, once they are in the hospital, she switches off, never following up on anyone she brings in, being distant from any partner she is given in the field. She refuses to be bullied by the aggressive Danny, staying committed to saving lives no matter how difficult the situation becomes, performing with help from experts just over the phone to perform an operation she isn’t prepared for. Cam is a great addition to this cast, being just an interesting as both leads, with Eiza Gonzalez holding her own through every scene.

Down 3 – The New Camera Toy

The new camera drone toy Michael Bay has, which will gives us plenty of different glossy shots for the action, which also includes loads of random dives down buildings, which make little sense to what is going on for those scenes. In fairness not all of the new camera shots for a Bay movie are bad, certain drone shots will work well, but the building ones are not needed for the film.

What were some of your ups & downs from Ambulance?

Ambulance (2022) Movie Review ‘The GTA Movie’

Ambulance – GTA the Movie

Director: Michael Bay

Writer: Chris Fedak (Screenplay) Laurits Munch-Petersen (Original Screenplay)

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza Gonzalez, Garret Dillahunt, Keir O’Donnell, Jackson White

Plot: Two robbers steal an ambulance after their heist goes awry.

Runtime: 2 Hours 16 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Ambulance starts as military veteran Will Sharp (Abdul-Mateen II) turns to his brother Danny Sharp (Gyllenhaal) for a loan after finding every insurance avenue turned down, as he looks to save his wife Amy (Ingram) life with an operation none will cover.

Danny has a job that he drags Will into, a bank robbery, but when the robbery goes wrong, the brothers will find themselves hijacking an ambulance with paramedic Cam Thompson (Gonzalez) onboard where they lead a chase through LA, while fighting to save injured cop Zach (White) life.

Thoughts on Ambulance

Characters & Performances – Will Sharp is a military veteran that has struggled to find a job since he returned, his wife needs an operation he can’t find money for, leading him to turn to his criminal brother. He reluctantly joins Danny on a bank robbery and when things go wrong, he refuses to give up on his morals by refusing to hurt anyone, including going above and beyond to protect the hostages the brothers take. Danny Sharp is the criminal mastermind, who has a reputation for bank robberies, who has put together a team for a big score, pushing Will into helping him, he is a loose cannon, where he can go from calm and collective to aggressive and angry in the click of the fingers. Cam Thompson is the paramedic who has a reputation for saving everyone she delivers to the hospital, but is also known as being cold and nobody would want to work with her, her determination to save lives will see her go into the danger zone to save a shot cop, she will find herself a hostage, but isn’t taking any crap from the robbers, knowing her job is to save lives and stands toe to toe against them to do so. Captain Monroe is leading the take down of the criminals, he will have the resources that will run through the city as they look to stop the escalating situation. We do get plenty of supporting characters mostly around the authorities trying to stop the escalating situation, where they all have their own ideas on how to stop them. The performances from Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jake Gyllenhaal and Eiza Gonzalez are great, showing the chaos their characters are going through, while having their own moments to shine, from the quiet moments Yahya and Eiza have, compared to the outbursts of rage Jake brings out.

Story – The story here will follows two bank robbers hijack an ambulance as they look to escape, leading to a massive chase around the city of LA. The story does keep everything very simple, escape the cops, while the cops can’t be too aggressive because one of their own in injured onboard. The more interesting side to the story comes from the characters, be it the Will Sharp character who channels the General Hummel, as a man left with no other option to help his loved ones, the paramedic who is known as the best in the city, but difficult to work with, the loose cannon criminal following in his father’s footsteps. The characters are flushed out while the mayhem unfolds in a way not many action films achieve.

Themes – Ambulance is an action movie that goes big with the chases, having the ambulance leading an endless amounts of authority vehicles around LA, even if a lot are flashy corners and car crashes, it all works to make the intense situation become edge of your seat. We get the typical Michael Bay camera work, with a lot of cuts between a lot of the action, which plays into the chaos we are experience, even if it looks like he got a new drone toy to play with for some shots.

Final Thoughts – Ambulance is the closest we have got to having a Grand Theft Auto movie, relentlessly intense from start to finish.