After what seems like several years of hiatus from his original, high-concept, stylistic action films (6 Underground was his last in 2019), Michael Bay gives audiences a ride to remember with the high-speed chase thriller Ambulance—available now on all digital formats, DVD, Blu-ray and the home video version we got, the stellar brilliance of 4K.
The director, who is known for gratuitous explosions, innovative camera angles, and transformers, seems to infuse all his favorite filmmaking techniques into one hell of a ride.
The film follows Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) as the two estranged brothers hijack an ambulance as their getaway car from a bank heist that’s gone awry. While hijacking the ambulance, they also take two hostages: EMT, Cam Thompson (Eiza Gonzalez), and wounded police officer Zack (Jackson White) –who Cam is trying to keep alive all while Danny is dodging the police in an epic high-speed chase through the streets of Los Angeles.
Will is a veteran who desperately needs money for his wife’s surgery. When the VA denies his claim, he turns to Danny, his career criminal, and bank-robbing brother, to help him pull off a $32 million bank robbery.
Chasing them is rugged LAPD cop Captain Monroe (Garret Dillahunt) and posh FBI Agent Anson Clark (Kevin O’Donnell), and what seems to be the rest of law enforcement in the greater Los Angeles area.
There’s also an emotional layer that adds entertainment value. Not only is a former soldier trying to get money for his wife’s surgery so they can continue to care for their newborn baby, but there’s also the element of brotherhood between Will and Danny. The fact that they know if they stop, they will likely die adds both suspense and intensity to the plot.
Screenwriter Chris Fedak does a tremendous job adapting Laurits Munch-Petersen’s 2005 Dutch thriller, both Gyllenhaal and Abdul-Mateen deliver stellar performances as they carry the entire film on their shoulders. Gyllenhaal brings a certain charisma as a dashing career criminal. While Mateen and Gonzalez perform invasive and graphic surgery to help save the police officer in the back of the ambulance during the epic chase.
Bay also goes all-in with some pretty epic drone shots which follow the ambulance chase through the city. Flying up and down buildings and all over the city, it’s a full-on visual spectacle. And we are here for it! Every shot is executed in the most intense way possible, so we must give kudos for that. The chase itself triggers memories of Jan de Bont’s Speed but stylized in a Bay way. Audacious as it is unrealistic, Ambulance is a heist film with a heart infused with creativity that will keep audiences entertained until the final scene.
Oftentimes, Bay’s work can be described as over-the-top or gratuitous, and his fifteenth film is just that. It’s the most Michael Bay film since Armageddon. It’s almost as if he took his own “Bayhem” and permeated it into the film with shots and sequences that are equal parts fantastic and spectacular.
It’s an unapologetic, balls-to-the-wall, and arguably Bay’s best film in years.
When it comes to the home video release’s bonus features, rightfully so, they show off the Bayhem and how this film was different for the action-oriented helmer.
What better way to start our look at those explosive bonus features and Hollywood’s return to Bayhem, than a featurette entitled Bayhem? The six-minute behind-the-scenes is fantastic. As someone who has at least appreciated what the filmmaker brings to the cinematic table, having Gyllenhaal, Abdul-Mateen II, González and members of the crew adds layers to the Bay delivered movie mayhem resonance that ensues with the Ambulance experience.
One of the elements Bay achieved some fresh greatness with his latest is his use of drones and a drone pilot, who gets the spotlight via the Aerial Assault featurette. This extra will have you immediately want to start the movie again—or at least replay all the aerial shots from the flick, there are a lot, and it is an impressive big-screen debut. Something tells me that Bay has found a new tool for his filmmaking kit that is a well he will return to repeatedly.
Never one to shy away from a car chase, Pedal to the Metal illustrates why Bay is never content to rest on his laurels. The featurette shows off the fact that this entire film was an elongated car chase if you think about it. There can be a no bigger challenge, just ask the filmmakers behind Speed, than orchestrating numerous high-speed car chases with the titular vehicle and every single soul that chasing them.
Speaking of getting behind the wheel in Los Angeles, you’re going to want to check out the featurette Chase Capital of the World. It has Gyllenhaal, González, and Abdul-Mateen II offering their thoughts on how the streets of Tinsel Town play as much of a part in the film as the players above the title. There’s also something unique about LA in that within your first few visits, you are all but guaranteed to watch the local news and have it interrupted by live coverage of a car chase! This is a very fitting bonus feature. Well played.
How did this idea even come to fruition? If you’re someone like myself, you probably asked that question repeatedly through witnessing Ambulance. Finding Ambulance finds the cast and filmmaking team behind the camera offering their own personal reasons for boarding the project and what it was about Ambulance that they couldn’t resist.
Lastly, much love must be delivered to the thoroughly thoughtful A Tribute to First Responders. González and Gyllenhaal reveal their ever-impressive appreciation for the world’s heroes who run towards trouble while everyone is going in the opposite direction.
Grade: B
Bonus Features: B