‘Ambulance’ Review: Jake Gyllenhaal in Michael Bay’s ’90s-Retro Excessive ‘Die Hard’ on an EMS Van
Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticAt a time of strife, division, anxiety, and war, you might think the moment would be right for a nostalgic escape to the retro-excessive trash-movie mystique of the ’90s — an age when action thrillers were big, loud, decadent, “rebellious” and, as often as not, ripped off from “Die Hard.” “Ambulance,” however, could make you rethink that impulse. It’s directed by Michael Bay, who over the years has trafficked in a great many varieties of excess: massively scaled kiddie gizmo excess (the “Transformers” films), apocalyptic sci-fi excess (“Armageddon”), fake-authentic historical excess (“Pearl Harbor”), and good old buddy-movie excess (“The Rock” and “Bad Boys”).