3 Ups & 3 Downs in Ambulance

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.