Known for lens flare and explosions, Michael Bay takes a step in a different direction with “Ambulance” — though it’s still action-packed. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, it’s also popping off on Netflix right now. With that title, you might expect it to feature plenty of medical drama and doctor-patient arguments, but no. The film follows two adoptive brothers who hijack — you guessed it — an ambulance after a high-profile bank robbery.
It underperformed at the box office when it was released in 2022, grossing about $52 million globally versus its $40 million budget. Today, it has a rather divided rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics giving it a 67% but users showering it with an 87% on the Popcornmeter, showing that sometimes a solid action movie is all we need on a slow Saturday night. That also seems to be why a Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper-led remake is seeing a revitalization on Netflix, and for good reason.
It might not be particularly deep, but people seem to love it. “Ambulance” showing up in the Netflix top ten helps support that argument. That might, of course, have more to do with the subject matter. Abdul-Mateen’s Will Sharp is a decorated veteran that desperately needs money for his wife’s medical bills and he turns to his brother, Danny, a career criminal who unveils the bank robbery plot. In the mix, they end up abducting a paramedic and a police officer who ride along for some high-speed chases through the city.
The Ambulance plot: More than meets the eye
There’s more to it than just a bank robbery and a getaway in a stolen ambulance, of course. We get a closer look at the relationship between the two brothers, one of whom is clearly volatile. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s Danny, and it gives Gyllenhaal a unique part compared to many of his prior roles. Danny is delightfully chaotic, playing a pseudo-antagonist role that eventually leads to the culmination of a nice little twist.
It’s nothing you can’t guess beforehand if you’re used to these kind of Bay-esque action flicks, but it’s still a lot of fun. There’s no deep dialogue, the characters aren’t complex at all, and some of the story loses focus along the way — there are more than a few things that make absolutely no sense — but it’s an action movie. If you “yippee ki-yay” some popcorn into the microwave and can suspend your belief for an hour two, you’ll have a decent movie night.
Thanks to streaming, movies are getting a new lease on life these days — or at least a second chance. Timothée Chalamet’s “Wonka” comes to mind. Or how about Michael Douglas and Brittany Murphy’s “Don’t Say a Word,” which is an interesting resurgence. It’s not just happening on Netflix either. “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” jumped into the top ten movies after three years on Apple TV.
