So, Michael Bay is the good guy now? After years and years of critics and movie goers going on and on about Michael Bay is the devil and he’s all that has gone wrong with movies today, we are now all suppose to just turn around and claim that he was actual an angel risen from heaven all this time?! Sorry but I don’t buy it!
I’m not gonna claim I’m a full blown Michael Bay hater. There are definitely films of his I do admit to enjoying, whether it’s as a guilty pleasure (Bad Boys, Transformers, Dark of the Moon) or as a genuine work of art (The Rock, Bad Boys II, 13 Hours), but he is definitely not a director worthy of sympathy or deserving as having some sort of reappraisal. Especially since when you get right down to it, he’s one of the most financially successful directors working today, so he already had his legion of loyal fans from the gecko. While his notable good work should be notified, so should all of his bad work.
Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Island, Revenge of the Fallen, Pain & Gain, Age of Extinction, The Last Knight, and 6 Underground.
Those were all poor to downright terrible movies. When you do the math, there is more bad in his filmography than there is good. I’m not someone that likes to drag someone through the mud because they made a bad movie or two but when there’s been countless bad ones on one’s resume, then plenty of people have reasons to not overrated or praised a certain director.
So, forgive me for not thinking that Mr. “I only make movies for teenage boys” was the savior of cinema all alone just because he has his own sort of “style” and has never directed a Marvel or superhero movie in his life. Or someone that nearly got part of his crew killed when filming the movie I’m about to talk about and even nearly sexualized an underaged Megan Fox in Bad Boys II (which almost makes me want to take it off the list of his actual good movies). But, hey don’t tell Film Twitter that or else they’ll have to go on about how Zack Snyder is the actual final hope for humanity from now until the end of time because we didn’t slober over his garbage DC movies.
Anyways, I’m gonna keep my thoughts on Ambulance brief as I don’t have a ton to say about it that could cover for a big review. Plus, I’m more interested in exposing the hypocrisy of those involving with discussion of films along with the same, tired cycle of pretending to be a fan of someone or something you were never a fan of to begin it. It’s an obnoxious trend that I’m getting sick and tired of seeing and I feel the need to address it.
First things first, how’s Ambulance? It’s fine, I guess. Definitely not something I would put in the absolute failures of Bay’s filmography but certainly not something to lump in side with his actual good movies. It falls into the same tropes that Michael Bay movies usually consist of. Mindless explosions, over-the-top action, shaky cam, exciting practical stunts, dirty humor, high saturation, references to his own films, and even having a military character of some kind. That being said, it’s still able to get away with most of these tropes with the film’s overall sense of intensity throughout it’s runtime, some admittedly solid direction, and it’s compelling cast ( Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Elza Gonzalez being the standout) that get you invested in them just long enough before you stop finding a reason to care. However, like with most of Bays movies, it is one that will fade through your head moments after you see it and will most likely make you feel exhausted by the end of it.
I’ve seen many people compare this movie to being in a five-star chase in Grand Theft Auto. The problem with that is those chase parts in a GTA game wears out it’s welcome after less than 30 minutes when playing it. Sure, it’s cool to be able to kill fake people and blow up fake cars and see how long you can get away with it without facing any actual consequences, but once you done that like once or twice in one sitting, it just become stale and you feel like doing something else. Plus, I don’t recall in a GTA game where you are able to kidnap a hostage for long stretches unless you stole a bus or going through a certain story mission. Just like when playing a bad guy in a typical free realm, open world game, Ambulance has a premise that really only works in small doses and becomes clear why throughout it’s near two and a half hour long running time.
A couple of other problems is that there are certain character’s actions that don’t make a ton of sense, certain motives that constantly keeps changing every 20 or so minutes, and at times, it can be hard to figure out who side is suppose to be on who because of some decisions that are made by the characters. Even if that’s what Bay was going for, I don’t think that was handle as well as it could have been. I do at least admire though that the third act didn’t go massively overblown with explosives and mindless action that most of Michael’s movie have suffered from, (something that nearly ruined the third act of 13 Hours). So, I guess that’s refreshing.
Overall, if you’re looking for an entertaining enough action thrill ride that will keep your interest on a free day, Ambulance is serviceable for a price-off Tuesday afternoon at your local theater. However, for those that have grown tiresome of the kind of movies that Transformers had become over the years along with plenty other dumb, brainless blockbusters, then you best skipped this one. I would probably put it somewhere in the middle of Michael Bay’s filmography as a movie that doesn’t deserve much scorn but not one that deserve much praise either.
As far as ratings, I’d say it’s a 2.5 stars at best and 2 stars at worst. Make of that as you will!
That being said, the overall quality of Ambulance is not the actual reason for me wanting to write this post but to talk about this absurd reappraisal of Michael Bay as a filmmaker. It’s about the most absurd reappraisal for movies since blind Star Wars fans trying to convince themselves that the Prequels were actual masterpieces and beloved all along by everybody (Try telling that to poor Jake Lloyd!). And it will most likely be the most absurd reappraisal until the edgelord contrarians come out from their tunnels when the MCU’s Fantastic 4 comes around that the Josh Trank’s trainwreck that somehow was able to find it’s way into theaters in 2015 was actually some sort of misunderstood gem (Something that not even the people who worked on that movie would agree on).
If there’s anything I despise more in the world when it comes to talking about movies, it’s being the contrarian. I don’t mean in the sense of having a different opinion than others on a movie, that happens all the time. What I mean is making your entire platform filled with contrarian takes on movies as a means of trying to take a shot at another successful movie series or trying to come across as more clever than you actually are. Whether that’s because these people believe that’s the only way they can grow their viewership or that’s what they really think deep down is beyond me, but it’s incredibly obnoxious nonetheless.
In the case of film discourse surrounding Michael Bay’s new movie, Ambulance, is how there are certain folks how there that have come out claiming that Michael Bay, who has for the longest time been considered the scapegoat of everything wrong with blockbuster filmmaking and a whipping boy in the film industry, was actually good all along and is now somehow one of the very few filmmakers left that have a bold “vision” of their own. Something which is 100% false by the way!
While I know there are definitely folks out there that have had this opinion on Michael Bay and his films for the longest of the time, even when it became the “cool” thing to hate on Michael Bay, there is no doubt that this opinion was absolutely not share by the majority of film critics and everyday movie goers. All you have to do is read the hundreds of negative articles and posts on Michael Bay as a filmmaker and how a certain new movie of his is the worst thing ever! All it takes is a quick google search to find titles of said websites that doesn’t sound very nice to Michael Bay or the films that article will likely be about.
Obviously though, the real reason why these bizarre takes are happening now in the wake of a new Michael Bay movie is so critics or big movie reviewers can take a shot at the kind of big budget movie franchises that are going on right now. The one franchise in particular is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It has become the cool thing to hate on the Marvel movies in recent memory because of how overly popular they are and there have so many films in that universe for the past 10+ years. Because of that, there has become to trend to hype up the next big movie or director that doesn’t have anything to do with that universe to give a sense that there is still some other form of creativity in filmmaking. These sort of movies that have come out, regardless if they are good or not, are often being treated as the equivalent of student movies, just be happy that they got made at all because at least it’s not Marvel. I can’t tell you how much this annoys me.
Don’t get wrong, it’s perfectly fine not to like Marvel or their movies/series. There has admittedly been a lot of them as of late but that doesn’t make it any better to try to praise another movie that’s not from that series of film as a means to try to take down the other film. It’s not a very healthy mindset, especially when you are trying to make those that like Marvel to feel bad about themselves because they like those movies and don’t like the ones you are hyping up. What makes it even worse is when these movies they are trying to hype up are not even remotely good.
Two weeks ago, there were folks that were trying to defend Mobius simply because it’s not apart of the MCU or it wasn’t “woke” (Whatever that word is supposed to be even mean nowadays). Yet, none of those defense or hot takes went into why the movie was even good. What was the story? Where was the character development? Was the action any good? Did the humor or emotional beats land? How was the music and the acting? None of that mattered because it didn’t matter that it wasn’t good, it mattered because it wasn’t the MCU. That’s the exact kind of mindset I’m getting with these takes on Ambulance.
To be sure, Ambulance is a far superior movie to Mobius. There is actually things to like about it and works find as an enjoyable crazy action thrill ride, but you shouldn’t have to try to use that movie to take down another to give it a recommendation. There’s nothing wrong with comparing one movie or the other or even preferring that movie to the other, but that should not be the only selling point to the movie or make anyone feel ashamed of themselves if they are not interested in seeing or supporting it.
What’s even more crazy though is that there are plenty others movies out right now and coming later this year being made by directors that I would argue deserves to be hyped up. Not just for the big movies but actual smaller, more original films from good/great directors. Those are the ones you should focus on spreading the word from in a genuine matter. There are several that have come out now and will come out this year. They are out there, you just have to look deeper. Here’s a handful examples of some movies I’m talking about:
- Kimi by Steven Soderbergh
- After Yang by Kogonada
- Fresh by Mimi Cave
- The Adam Project by Shawn Levy
- X by Ti West
- The Lost City by Aaron and Adam Nee
- Everything Everywhere All At Once by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
- The Northman by Robert Eggers
- Dual by Riley Stearns
- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent by Tom Gormican
- Men by Alec Garland
- Bullet Train by David Leitch
- Nope by Jordan Peele
- Don’t Worry Darling by Olivia Wilde
- The Woman King by Gina Prince-Bythewood
- Babylon by Damien Chazelle
Those are 17 examples I just mention of directors who are not nearly as well-known than the likes of Michael Bay with original features coming out that I would argue is or will be more worthy of your time than Ambulance.
Yet I’m not seeing that same energy being put into anticipation for those films with promising directors who have the potential to be a name as big in Hollywood as Michael Bay or even well-liked /well-known directors like Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, etc.. It has to be strictly Michael Bay because, well, he’s a well-known director and he has made big movies that aren’t superhero movies. Because of that, we have to give more attention to him and Zack Snyder or whatever director it has become cool to hate but have to like now, just because.
That in general, is what irks me the most about this form of movie discourse. The amount of energy that has spent trying to convince everyone that “a director or movie that you previously hated but is actually great and you were just too dumb to realize it” nonsense could be spent in trying to build anticipation and excitement of seeing lesser known directors with the potential to be more recognized with more successful movies. You know they are out there, I know they are out there.
How about showing some support to directors and their movies who need it as oppose to someone who might have haters but also has all the supporters in the world to where he can keep going to making movies and grow his fanbase even further?
Or is just trying to being the contrarian more important to you?
Think on that!
Adam's Blog 