Ambulance (2022)

I should know, going into a Michael Bay film, that I need to turn my brain off entirely. There is suspension of disbelief in films to where a decision here or there makes no sense but since it is only one or two in a film it is (mostly) OK to get past it. Then there are Michael Bay films where every five minutes there is a need to suspend disbelief. I'm sorry but my brain can't turn off for that long and my eyes need a break after all of the rolling they do.

It's kinda a shame as I became a big fan of Jake Gyllenhaal after Nightcrawler which ranks highly in my film pantheon. I also like Yahya Abdul-Mateen II after seeing him in the latest Candyman film. I also liked Eiza González in this film and in Baby Driver (although she is a knockoff Paula Garces). The actors should have helped and Gyllenhaal really goes for it.

The story is about a bank heist that goes wrong and in the process, two of the robbers who are brothers end up stealing an ambulance and taking an EMT and a police officer hostage. The rest of the film is them pretty much trying to flee across Los Angeles which apparently has no traffic wherever they go.

I will say, however, that the helicopter chase sequences by the bridges were pretty awesome. Stunt pilots are cray cray!

My big thing is that Michael Bay is all about blowing up cars, quick cuts, lens flares, and idiotic characters. It's been that way since Bad Boys. He's certainly got a 'style'. There were so many places where this movie could have ended and at the hour and fifteen minute mark I realized there was still an hour left and I let out a big sigh. For an intense action film I found myself bored. It was very repetitive. I know people love or hate Michael Bay films but I can tolerate them. The action sequences are decent but they are the same tricks he has been pulling almost thirty years. At this point it's not new or creative.

I honestly don't know if I'd recommend this one or not. If I do, at all, it is very half-heartedly. If you want to go watch a great heist film, watch Heat again.

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