disclosure: We were invited to an advance screening of Ambulance in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are our own. No other compensation was received. This review was written by Matt Patenaude, guest contributor.
Ambulance – In Theaters April 8
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Michael Bay’s newest break-neck thriller – AMBULANCE, is in theaters today – April 8th. Guest contributor Matt Patenaude attended a screening earlier this week and has shared his thoughts on Universal’s newest film. Ambulance runtime is 2hrs 16 min and is rated R for language, intense violence and bloody images.
Michael Bay returns to the screen with his latest action-packed high speed heist in “Ambulance”, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as bank robbers who take control of the film’s title as their getaway vehicle.
The two men, Gyllenhaal and Abdul-Mateen II, star alongside each other as adoptive brothers living two separate lives. Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a professional bank robber, having robbed over 38 banks in his life, without being caught. His brother, Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), on the other hand, is a combat veteran struggling to afford medical help for his wife’s cancer treatment – an all too realistic experience for military veterans, post service in America. Danny entices Will into joining him on a job that will get Will’s wife the money she needs for surgery and then some. However, Will doesn’t realize what he’s about to get himself into… a high speed bank robbery that will bring in $32 million. During the robbery, Danny lures a rookie cop into the bank and uses the officer as a hostage, ultimately shooting the officer and using a nearby ambulance as the getaway vehicle. Onboard is Cam, an EMT officer played by Eliza Gonzalez. Cam is forced to save the officers life, while Will Sharp is commanding the ambulance on a high speed pursuit throughout Los Angeles.
This intense chase, filled with chaotic camera angles (a Michael Bay staple in his career), lasts the majority of the movie, but allows audiences to experience a perfect trifecta of the three main stars. Gyllenhaal serves as the movies villain, while his movie brother, Abdul-Matteen, is the more realistic compassionate and humble military veteran, who soon realizes that being the “bad guy” is not the right motive in life. Gonzalez is the closet the movie gets to having a true hero. Like Michael Bay’s previous movies, such as Transformers, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi and Armageddon, the film relies heavily on side characters that provide a slice of humor and optimism in characters like police Captain Monroe’s (Garret Dillahunt) dog and FBI special bank expert Anson Clark has Kier O’Donnell). Each character, regardless of their importance to the film, plays a crucial role in telling the story. Audiences will quickly pick up and resonate with characters while keeping eye at important details of the characters that return frequently thought the movie. The movie ends in a heartwarming role of heroics following a surprise twist of events — because that’s what Michael Bay does best with his blockbusters, taking his audiences on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and explosions.
Michael Bay’s ambulance-highjacking pursuit is not meant to make sense, but rather entertain audiences with a good time. And it does just that. Sure it makes sense that a world-renowned bank robber like Danny Sharp (Gyllenhaal) uses his real name and is the only person not wearing a mask at the bank. The movie is over-the-top and loud when it comes to the high speed chase, with chaotic explosions, law defying physics and pure mayhem.
#AmbulanceMovie is only in theaters April 8.
Ever since he was young, Matt was enamored and glued to anything Disney. From the movies, to Playhouse Disney, to frequent visits to Walt Disney World. Disney was Matt’s childhood. As he grew up, and his interests went from movie fandom, to park operations fandom, his desire for spread to Disney Parks and his urge to work for Disney. Since then, he has completed numerous Disney College Programs, and is currently a proud Cast Member at his favorite park, EPCOT, having been apart of the opening teams for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Creations Shop, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind’s Treasures of Xandar.
