Ambulance
Ambulance
Ambulance
Regie:
Michael BayKamera:
Roberto De AngelisMusik:
Lorne BalfeBesetzung:
Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza González, Moses Ingram, Garret Dillahunt, Colin Woodell, Keir O'Donnell, A Martinez, Devan Chandler Long (mehr)Streaming (4)
Inhalte(1)
Um die Behandlung seiner schwer erkrankten Frau zahlen zu können, wendet sich Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) an die eine Person, die er normalerweise niemals um Hilfe bitten würde, seinen Adoptivbruder Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal). Aber statt ihm auszuhelfen, lockt ihn der charismatische Profidieb mit der Chance seines Lebens: ein Bankraub mit einer 32-Millionen-Dollar-Beute. Ein hoher Einsatz und ein noch höheres Risiko, doch um seine Frau zu retten, lässt sich Will auf den riskanten Überfall ein.
Bis zum letzten Moment scheint tatsächlich alles zu gelingen, doch kurz bevor sie unbehelligt verschwinden können, läuft der perfekte Plan spektakulär aus dem Ruder. Um doch noch entkommen zu können, kapern die beiden Brüder einen Krankenwagen mit einem angeschossenen Cop und der routinierten Rettungssanitäterin Cam Thompson (Eiza González) an Bord. Gejagt von allen Einsatzkommandos, Hubschraubern und jedem Polizisten der Stadt beginnt eine halsbrecherische Vollgas-Flucht durch die Straßen von Los Angeles. Die Uhr tickt, ihre Leben hängen am seidenen Faden und ganz L.A. wird zum Schauplatz der wohl explosivsten Hetzjagd aller Zeiten.
(Universal Pictures Germany)
Kritiken (11)
Die Figuren geraten erst im letzten Viertel in eine Situation, die mir ausgesprochen Spaß gemacht hat. Alles, was davor passiert, ist eine abgedroschene Routine, die in eine attraktive Mayhem-Form verpackt wurde. Und auch nicht für jeden. Epileptiker werden es nicht aushalten. Das, was mir bei Ambulance am meisten gefehlt hat, war ein scharfsinnigeres Drehbuch. Das Einzige, womit der Film die actionreiche Fahrt des Krankenwagens im Hinblick auf die Handlung weiterbringen möchte, ist das allmähliche Aufdecken der Beziehungen zwischen den Figuren (wer und warum wen woher kennt). Diese sind aber nicht besonders interessant und bereichern den emotionalen Drive des Films kaum. Emotionen kommen erst in den letzten Minuten. Es handelt sich aber nur um ein traditionelles, leicht peinliches Bay-Sentiment.
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After a botched robbery, Michael Bay has the two protagonists steal an ambulance and take a hostage, and a chase across L.A. begins. And it's Bay, full of slow motion, crazy explosions and stylish camera work. Only this time, the director tries to be unexpectedly serious at times and doesn't completely underestimate the character work. Unfortunately, what looks for a while like a serious action drama that might even work, ends up getting beaten to death by childish humour, overwrought action and the fact that he's just making what he's always made. So in the end, it's more or less exactly the kind of wildness one expects from Michael Bay. Whether that's a good or bad is for each to decide.
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An unacknowledged adaptation of GTA V that rides the wave of "the good" Bay from the nineties. That is to say, it's far from overblown not only in terms of runtime, pathetic, B-movie, deliberately stupid (which is not a rule with Bay), but fun and flashy. Double shame about the superfluous final 20 minutes, otherwise satisfaction from the "turn off your brain, have a couple of beers, get the popcorn ready and tune in to your boyish self who likes to bump into Englishmen for no reason" drawer.
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An amazing Bayhem, for me the film of the year so far and one of Michael Bay's best films! Ambulance is a combination of Den of Thieves and Wrath of Man, and if you like purely male movies full of adrenaline and testosterone you won't go wrong with this one – I died and came back to life in the cinema, metaphorically speaking fell and rose from the ashes like phoenix! Bay sets a very fast pace from the opening and thrusts us into a heist where absolutely everything gets fucked up, and the action then shifts to the ambulance, which is where the whole film takes place, and although it sounds uninteresting, you better believe you'll be wiping your brow with adrenaline. Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent, a chameleon of an actor (he overacts at times, but why not), and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is terrific as well as a former marine playing a very charismatic hero. Eiza Gonzalez, nothing to worry about here, great acting, great looks, Bay couldn't have picked a better trio of actors for this project. The action is uncompromising, the gunfights (no one has better sound design for guns than Bay!), the car chases, the helicopters, it's all there and I didn't feel like I was watching a movie at all, I felt I was watching a live broadcast of a crime in progress in LA, so the authenticity and realism gives it a high dimension. In other words, Bay has made his own movie version of GTA and for me it was a dream come true. I must also single out the great soundtrack (the music was ear-splitting and added to the tension and adrenaline). Bay's drone-camera was downright revolutionary, the aerial shots were so riveting that Deakins and Hoyt are quietly envious. The operation on the fly – the best shot operation in a movie since Saw, even a gore lover gets their serving, so pure euphoria and bliss. On top of all that, the dramatic and emotional moments work (Bay can bring tears in the opening 5 minutes, not to mention the ending!), and praise must be given to the FBI who finally showcase a very good antagonist, two intelligent fighters on opposite sides of the barricade, awesome and add to that the military tricks and a cartel and there is really little left missing for the audience to have a stroke. Flawless for me, I'm going again next week and then again. I liked how Bay references his own films. Story 3/5, Action 5/5, Humor 3/5, Violence 4/5, Fun 5/5 Music 5/5, Visuals 5/5, Atmosphere 5/5, Suspense 5/5, Emotion 5/5, Actors 5/5. 10/10.
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On the one hand, it’s regrettable that Bay lost his perversely inflated budgets by liberating himself from the Transformers cash cow and thus has to make formalistic compromises after years of unbridled lavish spending. Bay himself bitterly admits this when he says that some of the CGI shots in Ambulance are “shit”. Still, it’s great to again see this John Waters of the mainstream and Dario Argento of action movies run riot. No one else has the formalistic skills of the master of superficiality. I don’t understand the criticisms that you have to shut down your brain to watch Bay’s films. On the contrary, you can fully enjoy Bayhem only when you switch your brain on and set it to camp mode. Bay doesn't make realistic films and he has no interest in classic narratives. At their core, his films cannot be enjoyed passively, so that viewers are “only” entertained or moved by them. This is beautifully illustrated by a comparison between the original Nordic dramedy Ambulance and Bay’s variation on it. The Danes took the genre elements and strained them through a filter of empathy and levity, thus creating a perfect film for viewers. Conversely, Bay took only the basic premise from the original narrative. He threw out everything civil or (cinematically) realistic and spread out before the audience his world of advertising über-reality and soap-operatic emotions, where everything is turned up not just to eleven, but rather to twenty. As in Zdeněk Troška’s works, in the Bayverse all of the characters express themselves mainly by screaming or barking out simple sentences with the nature of slogans. The less space characters have in the film, the more they are exaggerated caricatures modelled not on everyday reality, but on the manmade illusion of PR and music videos. All of the cars appear to be new and polished, the female protagonist has perfect make-up even in the tensest moments of a field operation and the police are recruited exclusively from the ranks of juiced bodybuilders. Like the aforementioned Argento, Bay doesn’t bother with bullshit like believability and logic, but is only and primarily concerned with making every single shot as stylish and spectacular as possible. And in that respect, Ambulance is an absolute feast. Bay has reached the (for now) peak of his ADHD filmmaking, wagering on one goofily contrived and spectacularly self-indulgent shot after another. In addition to that, he got drones to play with, or rather he got some skilful drone operators, whom he let completely off the leash. Besides the phantasmagorical drone shots and real action with a minimum of digital effects, what’s most amusing about Ambulance is Bay’s attempt to ride the wave of current progressive trends in Hollywood cinema. But because Bay himself is the essence of the term “douchebag”, his version of diversity and representation inevitably takes the form of an absurdly boorish caricature. Bay has simply proven again that his films primarily induce viewers to shake their heads in disbelief. And when properly tuned in, there is wonderful pleasure in that.
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A hard and fast guided tour of Los Angeles and a movie record of exactly the same bank robbery as we see in "Grand Theft Auto V"... the one the ambulance... enriched by the recycled screenplay of the Danish original (thank god for the Scandinavians) about two brothers who need some money. In addition to the very effective camera flybys (guaranteed to make you barf if you watch this at the IMAX), Bay unexpectedly looks into the motivations and the character traits of all the main protagonists. It wrings out all it can from the emotions. Everyone has his place and is important in some way. But character development takes nothing away from this being a heavy-caliber Bay movie with cars crashing into obstacles and automatic weapons firing in the background: artists on the wrong side of the law playing a concert. Gyllenhaal savors playing the looney Danny to the very last drop, whether he is ordering flamingos for a birthday party or persuading his brother to help him rob a bank which this very day happens to have millions of dollars lying in the safe. And you must admit, the rest do a very good job of being extras. Balfe’s frenetic music is full on. Is this movie dumb? Yes. And is it fun? Yes. "You shouldn't have worn fucking sandals, dude."
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I didn't expect that three quarters of the film would be a car chase, one eighth a gunfight and the rest the necessary introduction to the plot and the final breath. Most importantly, I didn't expect it to be so great, and I don't think a better director than Michael Bay could have taken this script. The incessant action is extremely colourful and the playful music video look suits it well, it's clear that a lot of what happens on the screen happened on the set and that the stuntmen and pyrotechnicians got a good payday. Sure, at times it's really, really, really stupid, but in those moments the film either readily admits it with a wink or solidly disguises it. I could have done without Papi's car ambush, which didn't really belong here, otherwise I can't complain. I wouldn’t mind watching it again.
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Wenn man Lust hätte, könnte man problemlos die innere Logik dieses Films sehr schnell bis auf die Knochen zerstören. Aber wenn man zu einem Film von Michael Bay geht und einen Film von Michael Bay erwartet, ist es ein absolutes Kinderspiel, mit beeindruckenden Stunts. Nur seine Spielereien mit Kamera und Schnitt sind mittlerweile wirklich übertrieben, er sollte in Zukunft zumindest ein paar Lines an Kokain pro Tag reduzieren.
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Bay zwar hat die Explosionen in Ambulance abgeschwächt, aber es ist immer noch ein actiongeladener Film, bei dem die Logik manchmal auf Kosten einer beeindruckenden Atmosphäre geht. Ich dachte, ich hätte diese Geschichte schon einmal irgendwo gesehen, und erst in der Datenbank wurde mir klar, dass ich einmal die dänische Vorlage gesehen habe. Aus technischer Sicht würde ich den Film für die manchmal übermäßig komplizierten Kameraeinstellungen kritisieren - manchmal sah es fast so aus, als wäre der Kameramann irgendwie high. Storytechnisch gäbe es, wie gesagt, mehr als einen überdrehten Moment (vor allem bei der Operation des Polizisten, der im letzten Drittel fast vergessen wird), aber das gehört irgendwie zu Bay. Letztendlich haben die Filmemacher versucht, ganz unverhohlen mit den Emotionen zu spielen und sind dabei im Vergleich zum Rest des Films unverhältnismäßig weit gegangen. Die Besetzung war in Ordnung - vielleicht war nur der aufgeblasene Captain Monroe hätte einen Schlag ins Gesicht verdient. Das Ergebnis ist ein leicht überlanger, aber unterhaltsamer amüsanter Quatsch, mit einem anständigen Soundtrack (manchmal erinnerten mich einige Töne an Interstellar).
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All you have is a skeleton crew and a script pulled out of your ass. Who you gonna call? Michael Bay! Ambulance is a film that was made out of Bay's simple need above all to do something at a time when there was nothing to do, and the way the film was made in spite of that can often be so painfully seen that it comes across as a bit guerrilla. Especially during the shootout at the bank, you see crew members or security guards guarding the set in almost every other shot. At the same time, the script gives the impression that it was written on the spot, and anyone who has seen a single movie about paramedics and cops and robbers and is also fixated on realism and logic will die inside a bit here, because everything here sort of lands well on the first try and moves on without a second thought. Combined with the pacing of the film, it all feels spontaneous, like little boys playing cops and robbers in the backyard, creating subplots on the fly without thinking about their purpose to the story thus far, just so they can get back to riding and shooting. For me that's a perfectly fine way to make an action movie, and when the only director on the set who's been yelling into a megaphone enters the picture, we're in for a boogaloo, with drones and cars racing each other and all the sparkling, banging, dusting, blurring, and backlighting, where the important thing is not what exploded, but that it exploded. No one puts the camera down as much as Bay, few people today understand how much an action movie relates to the environment in which it takes place. And you all surely must be looking at it wrong, so pop open a beer, stick a smoke in the corner of your mouth, feet (in shoes) on the table, and give it another go! I want this place red by the end of the week, you hayseeds.
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Michael Bay has finally made his version of Phone Booth, and it's just as dumb as you'd expect. Melodramatic as hell, with great lines referencing Bay's earlier films, incredibly frantic pacing, and cuts so frequent that if an epileptic went to see it, they'd be carried out of the theatre within five minutes. I like Bay's films (including the most hated ones). I even like dumb films, as long as they have a reasonable running time. Unfortunately, a 136(!)-minute-long film with such a dumb screenplay is simply too much, even if you fully switch off your brain and try to ignore all the nonsense. Ultimately, it’s just empty and even boring in spite of the insane pace.
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