In "Ambulance," director Michael Bay's chaotic, frenetic daytime travelogue of Los Angeles, the viewer is constantly reminded of other, better movies. There's a shootout in the streets following a bank heist, like in "Heat." There's a chase through the L.A. River basin, like in "T2." The majority of the movie takes place on board a moving vehicle as it barrels down L.A.'s freeways, like in "Speed." Even its characters can't stop talking about other Bay films, making conversational references to "The Rock" and "Bad Boys."
"Ambulance" best exists as an homage to the movies that came before it, because it doesn't carve out any legacy for itself. This sloppily plotted action thriller forgets to give the audience any rooting interest in its characters, and then sloooowly drags to its drawn out finish. For a movie about a speeding truck, by the end it feels like it's stuck in traffic.
"Candyman's" Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Will Sharp, an ex-Marine (if you miss the first reference to his service, don't worry, there's three dozen more on the way) struggling to find his place after returning home from the war. He needs $231,000 to pay for an experimental treatment for his wife, and he reaches out to his adoptive brother Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has no problem lending him the cash, if Will will join him on a $32 million bank heist that he just happens to be leaving for right now, at this very second. C'mon man, in or out? Time's a wastin'!
