Rent Ambulance (2022)

Rubbish - Ambulance review by VW

I love a good action flick as much as the next person but this was just utter tripe. I didn't realise it was directed by Michael Bay or I wouldn't have wasted my time.

Plot holes, dumb decisions, characters as deep as a puddle and a terrible performance from Jake Gyllenhaal as a shouty psycho.

Two hours I won't get back. It WILL insult your intelligence.

Awful, Simply Awful! - Ambulance review by GI

This is mindless American action cinema at its absolute worst. A ridiculous, silly, thoroughly implausible film that has zero going for it. Director Michael Bay has taken a small Danish film injected it with a heavy dose of cliché and stupidity and churned out this nonsense. A pity that he didn't give the two lead actors, Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, the nod to make it up as they go along because the script here is awful, the action set pieces are flat and unexciting especially the chase sequences where Bay simply plays out an episode of the A-Team with every police car he can find. The preposterous story is basically that former soldier and war hero Will needs money for his wife's surgery so turns to his criminal half brother, Will, an armed bank robber who simply hires him to be on a major heist due to occur in the next few minutes! It all goes wrong, there's a shoot out and the two take an ambulance along with paramedic, Cam (Eliza González) and a seriously wounded cop. This cues an overly long and rather tedious chase through Los Angeles. The attempts at humour fail utterly and by the end you'll care nothing for any of the characters. A shoddy film, not worth your time.

A solid action thriller, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II on great form - Ambulance review by TB

Ambulance is Michael Bay's version of a "small/micro-budget film," which still manages to pack a lot into a tight running time.

In many ways, it is very much action-picture fare, with the standard moral situations, uneasy-buddy friendships and destruction aplenty. But this also has some strong things going for it to elevate it above its competitors. For one, as much as it is far-fetched, it is always engaging. The stunts are also absolutely incredible, the standout one being a chase between the titular ambulance and 2 helicopters which rivals Spectre's opening scene for nail-biting and edge-of-your-seat action. The action cameras employed, as well as the set-up of different action shots, is also breath-taking. Irrelevant of the many fully justified criticisms of Michael Bay, there are few directors who can rival in any way how he orchestrates and pulls off action scenes and car chases.

Another reason for the success of this film is down to the casting. Jake Gyllenhaal does his best with the material he is given, but unfortunately his performance is in many ways very one-note. Playing an out-and-out psycho is in many ways one of the most difficult roles to play, because as the stakes get higher, the only way to go is up in terms of temperament. And the crazier you go, the more the performance strays into hammy and pastiche. For every perfect performance, like Daniel Day-Lewis (Bill the Butcher) or Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lector,) you have 20 hammy or terrible ones (Brian Earl Thompson in Cobra springs to mind.)

This film does have an ace up its sleeve in the form of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. He really really is good, his battle-scarred ex-soldier fighting to scrape together the money to pay massive medical bills for his family. His decency and morality, as well as his horror at the situation he is effectively forced into by his brother, makes you root for him the whole time. Abdul-Mateen II is also great at the action scenes, fully believable in the chaos surrounding him.

This is in many ways a film which, depending on your mindset at the time, will dictate your experience of it. It won't change your mind, make you look at the world a different way, or convince you that the world this film is set in is in any way comparable to the real one. But, as a mindless action thriller, it does the trick and also welcomingly, really gives credit to and elevates the role the emergency services play in helping people. Just don't look too far into the fact that the main plot line is a man having to go and commit a robbery in order to pay for treatment because of the obscene cost in the US...

Avoid. Even for Michael Bay this is dumb - Ambulance review by Tommy

Really? Michael Bay has become a caricature of himself. Stupidly over the top. I don't mind minimal plot but there has to be character narrative, some drive, some motivations, a theme etc. I watched this for Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen and Eiza Gonzalez despite knowing this would Bay going full Bay, but i thought this would be fun. It isn't.

The director gets hold of too much money. Wow. It is such an arrogant film by an arrogant director, obviously. I am not a fan but his films can have a time and place. For some people they're great to watch, that's fine but come on he isn't Tony Scott. He can direct action like anyone but there isn't any effort to blend it in a story with characters. There has to be some point to it, some character drive. A theme perhaps. Sure, respect for the military and the sacrifices they make, some can be looked after by society more after service but he needs to put this in a story better and add something else to it. Some subtlety can have it's time too. He isn't that director or writer, fine, then he needs to recognise he needs a writer to add what he doesn't have.

Gyllenhaal is bad. Abdul-Mateen is not that bad. Gonzalez is innocent - "the best in the world paramedic" LOL. I can't be bothered to write more. For how to do action heavy films see Mad Max Fury Road etc. This ain't that. I hope the cast and crew got paid well for this nonsense.

OK Actioner - Ambulance review by TB

Like Casualty, but with car chases, explosions, and a bigger budget...

3 stars is probably generous.

I loved it but some wont - Ambulance review by sw

I watched this for what it is, non stop action.

parts remind me of den of thieves and Heat mixed with speed 1.

its a big budget movie. lots of plot holes and people making daft decisions but i really didn't mind.

if you like action then its worth watching. I loved it even with the annoyances.