Development

Ambulance is an American remake of the 2005 Danish film of the same name. Producer Bradley J. Fischer said Michael Bay was his first choice to direct the film but that the filmmaker had originally passed on the project.^[3] The film was announced on August 28, 2015, with Phillip Noyce attached to direct from a script written by Chris Fedak.^[4] Two years later, it was reported that Noyce had been replaced by directing duo Navot Papushado and Aharon Keshales,^[5] but this version of the film never entered production.^[6]

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles preempted Bay's plans to shoot his next film, Black Five. He recalled telling his agent "Goddamnit, I just want to get out and shoot something fast. I'm tired of being locked up at home."^[7] He pitched an idea to Donna Langley, the Chairwoman of Universal Pictures, and said he wanted to direct a "small" film focusing on the tension between characters trapped in a claustrophobic setting.^{[8]: 0:13–0:39} Bay was reminded of Ambulance and told that the film could be shot on a relatively low-budget in a short period of time. "It kind of suited my needs," he said.^[7] On November 11, 2020, Bay was announced as the new director,^[9] and the film was referred to as a "character-driven project" that would move away from Bay's normality of "standard explosion-heavy fare" while using elements from Speed (1994) and Bad Boys (1995).^[10] Bay did not watch or read the screenplay of the original Danish film because he wanted to make the film his own.^{[8]: 1:01–1:17}

The film was financed by Endeavor Content and produced by New Republic Pictures and Project X.^[11] Jake Gyllenhaal received the screenplay while shooting a different project in October 2020.^{[12]: 13:47–14:06} The following month, the film was announced with Gyllenhaal and Dylan O'Brien in talks to star as the two adoptive brothers who hijack the ambulance and Eiza González in negotiations to star as the paramedic.^[13][14] Gyllenhaal's casting was a contributing factor in Bay's decision to shoot the film.^{[12]: 0:49–0:55} To prepare for the role, González spent three months "working intimately with firefighters, EMTs, surgeons, [and] everyone around the medical care system." She also rented an ambulance and had a friend drive her around to improve her balance.^[15] On December 11, 2020, Universal Pictures confirmed they would distribute the film and announced O'Brien had dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was cast as his replacement when he was able to fit the film into his schedule, following a production delay on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023).^[16][17][18] González was confirmed to star three days later.^[19] The rest of the cast was announced between January and May 2021.^[20] On joining the cast, A Martinez said he submitted a self-made audition video from Auckland, New Zealand.^[21]

Filming

The film was shot on a $40 million budget in downtown Los Angeles. Filming wrapped after thirty-eight days.^[22]

During pre-production, stunt coordinator Mike Gunther put the three leads of the film through stunt driving courses to test their driving abilities. Supervising location manager Rob Gibson obtained driving permits for a large number of city streets and freeway corridors in the city using his close relationship with FilmLA.^[23] The cast and crew had to follow safety protocols such as wearing masks on set due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[24] The production borrowed a total of six ambulances from Falck.^{[23][25]: 25:21–25:32} The scenes inside of the ambulance were captured using three ambulances: one was driven with the crew on board; a second could be dismantled; and a third was rocked on a stage.^{[8]: 10:21–10:38} According to Abdul-Mateen, the limited space inside of the ambulance required Gyllenhaal to hold the camera for a couple of takes.^[26][27]

Several Komodo digital cameras by Red were utilized for the shoot. A considerable amount of the film was shot using first-person view drones by LightCraft. Bay said this way of filming was implemented because he was inspired by Steven Spielberg's direction on War of the Worlds (2005) to come up with new ways to put his stories on screen while simultaneously limiting himself as a director. Executive producer Michael Kase discovered LightCraft after seeing their footage of the top of the Wilshire Grand Center. The drones in the film were flown by Drone Racing League pilots Jordan Temkin and Alex Vanover using head-mounted displays. Footage captured by the drones included scenes in the Los Angeles Convention Center and the city's Fashion District.^[23][28] To make the film feel authentic, the cast was allowed to improvise some of their lines.^{[29][25]: 26:57–28:24} The production also hired real trauma surgeons, firefighters, SWAT teams, snipers, undercover SIS members, and 52 LAPD officers for the shoot.^{[30][25]: 15:35–16:18}

On the first day of filming, while shooting footage of the ambulance driving on a freeway, Bay noticed several patrol officers and three motorcycle cops. He asked them if they wanted to star, to which they agreed, and used the opportunity to sweet talk the officers into creating a rolling roadblock, allowing them to close the freeway for free instead of paying the average $350–400,000 cost.^[31][32] On Garret Dillahunt's first day on set, the crew was able to secure access to an area that featured the Los Angeles City Hall, the Times Mirror Square building, and the LAPD headquarters for a mere 19 minutes worth of natural light to film. To describe the gravity of the situation, Bay was told that would be "the only time [and] the last time you are ever going to get this corner, this area." As the time started, Bay realized he had to spend some time fitting the English Mastiff in the film, which was his own dog, into a small vehicle. He would go on to describe it as the most difficult day on set.^[30]

The helicopter chase sequence in the Los Angeles River was not in the script; Bay came up with the idea over the weekend after two helicopters became available for use. The scene was shot in two and a half hours with the help of helicopter pilot Fred North. Instead of hiring stuntmen for the sequence, Gyllenhaal was actually hanging off the side of the ambulance's door and shooting at the helicopters himself while Abdul-Mateen was driving. Surprised by the sudden and speedy filming of the scene, Abdul-Mateen live-streamed the event to his friend as he was driving and later told Bay it was the "craziest shit I've ever done". Bay also took responsibility for a video shared on his Instagram of a stunt involving the ambulance crashing into several vehicles. The clip was criticized by the mayor and the governor of Los Angeles and censored on Instagram. He explained the logistics behind the stunt and how it was filmed in an interview with Collider and said it was "perfectly planned".^[30][33] Elaborating on the filming process, Bay said they shot "90 shots to 120 shots a day. That's a lot of shots. Most movies are 20 to 30 shots a day. But you know I was there with the camera. I'm a director who doesn't have a video village, I don't have a director's chair, I don't have a trailer. I'm right there with the actors and we work fast".^{[34]: 3:38–4:05}

Post-production

Lorne Balfe composed the musical score; he previously collaborated with Bay on 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) and 6 Underground (2019).^[35] The score was recorded in London's Abbey Road Studios,^[36] and released on April 8, 2022, by Back Lot Music.^[37] Editing was completed by Pietro Scalia.^[38] Due to the film's budget, Bay said he was not happy with some of the visual effects in the film: "There's not a lot of CGI. And you know, some of the CGI is shit in this movie."^{[8]: 9:58–10:21} In a separate interview, he added, "I don't use CGI much. On Ambulance there's very little CGI on it. It's all real crashes ... If you're using CGI, it needs to be realistic."^[39]

Home media

The film was released digitally and on video-on-demand on May 23, 2022, with the 4K UHD, Blu-Ray, and DVD being released on June 14, 2022.^[44]

Box office

Ambulance grossed $22.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $29.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $52.3 million.^[54]

In the US and Canada, Ambulance was released alongside Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and the wide expansion of Everything Everywhere All at Once. It was projected to gross $8–14 million from 3,412 theaters in its opening weekend.^[52] Variety's Rebecca Rubin believed the "comparatively lean production budget ... could soften the blow in the event the film doesn't connect with audiences."^[52] The film made $3.2 million on its first day, including $700,000 from Thursday night previews.^[53] It went on to gross $8.7 million in its opening weekend, finishing fourth at the box office.^[55] Men made up 62% of the audience during its opening, with those above the age of 25 comprising 77% of ticket sales and those above 35 comprising 49%. The ethnic breakdown of the audience showed that 38% were Caucasian, 29% Hispanic and Latino Americans, 22% African American, and 11% Asian or other. Deadline Hollywood's Anthony D'Alessandro noted the reluctance of older male audiences to return to theaters and said, "when it comes to action films in today's cinemas, it's the superhero films that have it all, everything else is B-rated. They've stolen the air away from something as standard as Ambulance."^[53] The film made $4.1 million in its second weekend,^[56] $1.8 million in its third,^[57] and $1.2 million in its fourth before dropping out of the box office top ten.^[58] Rubin deemed the film a box-office bomb, citing its release in a crowded marketplace, lukewarm reviews, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on moviegoing habits, and the action genre's steady decline in popularity.^[59]

Outside the US and Canada, the film earned $4.4 million from 35 international markets in its opening weekend.^[60][61] It made $6.6 million in its second weekend,^[62] $2.8 million in its fourth,^[63] $1.4 million in its fifth,^[64] $1.8 million in its sixth,^[65] and $572,000 in its seventh.^[66]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 252 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "At top speed and with sirens wailing, Ambulance comes riding to the rescue for audiences facing an emergency shortage of Michael Bay action thrills."^[67] It is the second highest-rated film directed by Bay on the site, as well as the second to hold a "fresh" rating, alongside The Rock (1996).^[53] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100 based on 55 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[68] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it a 77% positive score, with 61% saying they would definitely recommend it.^[53]

Bay's direction was well received by critics. John Nugent of Empire said the filmmaker's "tribute to the emergency services (which involves blowing several of them up) is noisy, messy and frequently absurd — yet still somehow his most gleefully entertaining effort in at least a decade."^[69] The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey said it was "as exhausting as it is exhilarating, in the way you both expect and desire from a Bay film."^[70] Frank Scheck from The Hollywood Reporter and Danny Leigh from Financial Times also described it as "exhausting". While Scheck called it a "decently premised B-movie stretched out to an interminable 136 minutes", Leigh said it was "hard to resist" and that audiences "would miss Bay if he vanished from the Hollywood menagerie."^[38][71] Kevin Maher of The Times wrote, "Everything here is Bay squared. It's a film that simply does not stop."^[72]

The story and performances received some criticism. TheWrap's Robert Abele said Gyllenhaal's acting was unconvincing and "over-the-top" and that Abdul-Mateen's character was a "poorly conceived good guy in over his head." He also said "Bay's addiction to confusion and pointlessness as operating visual narrative principles keeps this from being in any way pleasurable."^[73] A. O. Scott of The New York Times was positive about the performances but found the story predictable, "It all ends up pretty much where you expect it will, but the actors do a good job of seething and emoting under pressure, and Gyllenhaal does a volatile, charming sociopath thing that isn't as annoying as it might be."^[74] Tim Grierson, writing for Screen Daily, said the film "spotlights [Bay]'s visual panache alongside his considerable storytelling weaknesses."^[75] The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw said "Ambulance has everything ... except actors giving a decent performance as believable characters in a workable script."^[76] The Evening Standard's Charlotte O'Sullivan said the film picks up once the characters enter the ambulance, and that "the B-movie [Gyllenhaal] and Bay have cobbled together is genuinely diverting."^[77]

Collider praised Ambulance as Bay's best film since The Rock and Bad Boys II as well as his "most human film to date", citing its emphasis on character development and emotional depth beyond his signature explosive action set-pieces.^[78]