Ambulance

You go into a Michael Bay film with a lot of preconceived notions. It will be loud. It's camera work will give you a headache. It will be violent and profane and there will be a blatant disregard for the lives and bodily integrity of anyone other than the main cast. Ambulance ticks all these boxes but unlike everything Bay has made since 2003's Bad Boys II it will actually entertain you too. 

The glut of comic book blockbusters over the last decade has had a knock on uncanny valley effect on way too many action films with their directors shooting against green screens instead of on location and leaning on computer generated imagery instead of using practical effects and genuine stuntwork. Bay's latest movie feels decidedly old fashioned with it's action setpieces taking place in well known Los Angeles locations and at least two stunts that look like they were genuinely dangerous to film. It's just a pity he feels the need to film it in a manner guaranteed to give you a headache and or some kind of fit. The drone shots, oh lord, you'll laugh at them and pray that you'll never see their like again. Some of the more hilariously gratuitous ones will have you eyeing the interior of the ambulance onscreen for pain relief.

It's one that's driven by Cam Thompson (Eiza González) an EMT responding to a shots fired call in the aftermath of a disastrous bank robbery planned and carried out by Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal), a career criminal out for a massive score. Along for the ride is his adopted brother Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), an army veteran in desperate need of cash for an operation for his wife. When the SIS branch of the LAPD led by Captain Monroe (Garrett Dillahunt) foils their escape and kills the rest of the robbery crew the brothers in arms have no choice but to hijack Cam's ambulance and go on the run with a cop (Jackson White) accidentally shot by Will slowly bleeding out on a trolley in the back.

It's exactly how you'd imagine it. A quick intro to our characters and a huge Michael Mann aping shootout kick things into action within minutes and the next two hours are one chase after another interspersed with a bloody shoot out or two and the bare minimum of character building. Danny wants money, an FBI agent chasing them is gay, a cop loves his dog, Cam is great at her job and Will needs money. Only Will and Cam have any bit of depth to them and Cam's a genuine rarity in a Michael Bay film, a strong female lead who doesn't exist to be seen bending over a car bonnet in a bikini. Is this the start of a more mature era of Bayhem? A noticeable lack of CGI and leering camerawork? A willingness to take the piss out of himself (An early Rock joke mocking how long he's been doing this is a winner) and much smaller scale story? Ok, mature might be a stretch but after all those piss poor Transformers sequels and the awful 6 Underground it's nice to be entertained by his special brand of madness again.

It's far from perfect but it's a fun way to pass a couple of hours and for once the Bay trademark two hr plus running time isn't an issue because there's so much happening, often at once. Farting dogs, mobile surgery, splattering cops and seemingly every dodgy street corner in Los Angeles. Ambulance has it all.