Ian’s review published on Letterboxd:
66/100
“You are all gonna have the greatest story to tell at dinner tonight!”
I was really under the impression that this was going to be a complete rip-off of Speed expect Bay was going to treat it more like a revamp with new technology and such, but I’m glad that I was half-wrong in that situation. I mean when you really look at it, it’s just a total rip-off but there’s enough of a difference in its characters and the way in which everything unfolds that it really makes this a really engaging thriller from Michael Bay and the whole crew.
Without the absolute wonderful and wacky performance from Jake Gyllenhaal I don’t think this works nearly as well as it does. He’s totally insane and I loved every minute of it. On top of that, watching him work with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is just this mixture of craziness and cool and I would solely watch this film for them. Then there’s also Eiza González who makes a really nice and interesting addition in this. Her role and the role that that whole situation plays into the film is what makes the film and I think what she was able to do helps create a lot of tension and excitement in the final product.
Michael Bay definitely has some issues in his films and I think that a majority of them are easy fixes and here I found him to be pretty tame if I’m honest. Sure there was easily a lot of moments that didn’t have to end in an explosion or he easily could’ve picked a different way to shoot something, but on the end of it all it was solid. Ambulance is thrilling, entertaining, and above-all, really showcases how well drone shots can create a fun environment to shoot a film in. Not one of Bay’s best, but definitely not his worst.
