Ambulance

It is undeniable that Michael Bay is a gifted director who conceives each of his films as a real playground in which his style close to that of the music video has managed to win the favor of the public by relying on solid interpretations of actors but also by offering us strong scenes and designed with a willingness to propose short shots, perfectly chiseled and designed to be discovered in the cinema (It is regrettable that his penultimate film 6 Underground (2019) was not released in theaters before being proposed on Netflix). 

After having proposed multiple successful and memorable blockbusters like those of the cinematographic sagas Bad Boys I and II (1995, 2003), Transformers (5 films) but also The rock (1998), Armageddon (1998), we feel in these last films like Pain & gain (2003), 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) and Ambulance (2022) a willingness to move away from his comfort zone to anchor towards more personal projects and allowing him to refine his direction and show that he is capable of proposing something other than blockbusters with colossal budgets and betting much more on the presence of revolutionary special effects than on the presence of a real scenario with a sustained pace. 

Ambulance is certainly one of his best films to date and reminds us in some ways of one of Michael Mann's masterpieces, Heat (1995). Between a burglary movie and a stifling closed-door movie in real time, Ambulance turns out to be an excellent surprise, far from the trailer that seemed to sell a new blockbuster, certainly mastered but without real innovation. Michael Bay is doing the American remake of a foreign film. In this case, it is the film Ambulancen by Laurits Munch-Petersen, Lars Andreas Pedersen revisited and boosted by a very inventive script by Chris Fedak and in which the director Michael Bay gives us his vision of the sprawling city of Los Angeles far from the clichés of many American films. 

For one day on the streets of Los Angeles, the life of decorated veteran Will Sharp (Candyman, The Matrix Resurrections) takes a dangerous and unexpected turn. The courageous and renowned soldier who fought for his country is forced to find a way to pay the hefty medical bills of his cancer-stricken wife, who can be saved if he tries a new treatment. Will Sharp is forced to seek help from his own adopted brother Danny Shartp (Jake Gyllenhaal), a dangerous criminal who seems to be following in the footsteps of his father, who was a very dangerous bank robber and raised his two children the hard way.  Danny takes Will on a 32 million dollar bank heist that was supposed to go off without a hitch. Unfortunately for them, things don't go as planned and the two brothers storm an ambulance with a police officer injured by one of them and a nurse Cam Thompson (Eiza González seen in Fast & Furious Presents : Hobbs & Shaw, and Baby Driver). As the ambulance speeds through the streets of Los Angeles chased by police cars and helicopters, a tragic fate seems to hang over the four people forced to share an intense moment that seems to have no return.

After a film on Netflix with Ryan Reynolds, it is good to see the director Michael Bay again at work and this film projected on the big screen. Far from being another thriller carried by excellent actors (Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Eiza González are perfect), Ambulance is a real intense cinematic experience that does not leave any respite to the spectators. The very inspired direction and a scenario that is conducive to numerous twists and turns make Michael Bay's new film a thrilling thriller and above all a true love letter to Los Angeles. Far from relying on blameless heroes, Ambulance instead puts forward an anti-hero who has always had an unimpeachable moral code and who must reluctantly cross the red line and face the dangerousness of his brother. In the same way, director Michael Bay seems to constantly want to avoid playing with overkill like in the Transformers film saga, and well he should. However, he continues to apply his successful formula with numerous explosions, scenes capable of making us cling to our seats. Add to this the presence on screen of the superb actress Eiza González who finally finds a more accomplished role and whose interpretation has nothing to envy to the two excellent actors that are Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. 

Ambulance is definitely one of the must-see films of this year and we can only advise you to go and discover it on the big screen and in an excellent theater. You will not see at any moment the hundred and thirty six minutes passed and you will reach with impatience the new film of Michael Bay.

Ambulance
Directed by Michael Bay
Screenplay by Chris Fedak
Based on Ambulancen by Laurits Munch-Petersen, Lars Andreas Pedersen
Produced by Michael Bay, Bradley J. Fischer, James Vanderbilt, William Sherak, Ian Bryce
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza González
Cinematography : Roberto De Angelis
Edited by Pietro Scalia
Music by Lorne Balfe
Production companies : New Republic Pictures, Endeavor Content, Project X Entertainment, Bay Films
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date : March 23, 2022 (France), April 8, 2022 (United States)
Running time : 136 minutes

Seen on March 22, 2022 at Gaumont Disney Village, Room 4 seat A18

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