Ambulance (4 Stars)

Michael Bay isn't a popular director. He's a director that "serious" film fans love to hate. When I try to talk about him with my friends there's an awkward silence. There are many arguments against his films, and the main one is his preference of action and spectacle over story and characters. That would normally be enough to turn me off, but I say that it's all about what a director intends to do and whether he succeeds with his intentions. I connect Michael Bay's name with car chases and explosions.

That's what I went to the cinema to see today: car chases and explosions. It was a poor attendance. EM 1 in Stuttgart is a medium sized cinema, with 220 seats, but there were only three people in the room. I spoke to one of the others before he sat down, and he was apologetic, as if ashamed to be there: "I don't normally like Michael Bay, but there are no other films I want to see today". I didn't get a chance to speak to him afterwards, so I'm curious whether the film won him over.

The film's background is that a notorious armed robber in Los Angeles has two sons, Danny and Will. Danny is his own son, Will is adopted. Together they embark on a life of crime. Then Will has regrets. He joins the army and fights in Afghanistan. When he comes home he has trouble finding a job. His wife needs an operation that will cost her $230,000. His father is dead, so he goes to his brother to ask for a loan. Danny is rich, having inherited his father's business, but he says he doesn't have the cash readily available. He offers Will something better. Danny is planning a bank robbery and expecting to get $32 million. He promises Will half the money.

Danny didn't expect trouble, but the police had been given a tip off. There's a big shoot out. Will and Danny hijack an ambulance in which a paramedic wants to take an injured policeman to hospital. The police pursue and try to stop the ambulance, but they won't shoot at it because they don't want their colleague in the ambulance to die.

There's an exciting 65-minute car chase, with the ambulance being pursued by police cars and helicopters. That's something you only get in a Michael Bay film. It can be seen from two sides. On the outside, it's a typical high speed car chase, but inside the ambulance there's tense, claustrophobic drama. Danny and Will have to deal with the young paramedic, Cam, whose biggest priority is saving the policeman's life.

I went to the cinema today to see action, and that's what I got. The character development wasn't as bad as I expected. It was done on the go, not at the beginning. When the film began the characters were strangers, but after the first hour I felt I knew them. The film was satisfying to me, and I think the people in the 217 empty seats missed out.