Film

Ambulance

Other titles called Ambulance: the 2016 series (BBC One), the 2016 film.

Michael Bay's kinetic heist thriller about two adoptive brothers—a broke veteran and a charming career criminal—who rob a Los Angeles bank and spend the film's 136 minutes careening through the city in an ambulance, pursued by cops and feds. It's relentlessly propulsive, visually excessive, and genuinely concerned with its characters even as explosions light up the frame. For people who want stakes, spectacle, and a little emotional weight underneath the chaos.

TMDb rating3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like your heist movies loud, kinetic and fully committed, and don't mind a runaway ambulance chase that treats physics as a suggestion.

Skip it if you tire of noise for its own sake, since at over two hours the volume rarely drops and the characters are more sketched than felt.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a long, unrelenting ride where the pace seldom eases and the camera rarely sits still, so clear an evening and bring your full attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Heat1995

Mann's masterpiece about cops and criminals locked in eternal pursuit finds the humanity in both sides. Like Ambulance, it's a technical showcase built on genuine character tragedy and moral complexity beneath the gunfire.

But It's three hours long and deliberately paced. If you need constant motion, the slow-burn investigation sequences might test your patience.

Heat poster

Baby Driver2017

Edgar Wright's heist film uses rhythm and music to choreograph action instead of just piling on explosions. It shares Ambulance's desire to make every frame sing while delivering real character arcs and genuine stakes.

But The stylization can feel precious. Some find the needle-drops and visual wit distracting rather than energizing.

Baby Driver poster

Den of Thieves2018

Ayer's LA crime thriller has that same brother-from-another-mother dynamic between cop and criminal, with Gerard Butler and O'Shea Jackson Jr. delivering unglamorous, sweaty intensity. The cat-and-mouse game feels earned.

But It's brutal and bleak without much breathing room. The tone is relentlessly grim, which some find exhausting.

Den of Thieves poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Ambulance

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Unhinged2020

Both films take a single day of escalating desperation and let it explode across their runtime with kinetic, almost musical control. Both find something almost tragic in men pushed past breaking point.

Russell Crowe's road-rage thriller is 90 minutes of pure kinetic tension—one chaotic day that spirals into increasingly insane stakes, shot with the kind of grimy, naturalistic energy Bay brings to Ambulance. It's trashy and effective.

But It's genuinely mean-spirited and cynical in ways that might feel punishing rather than thrilling. And Crowe's performance is deliberately unhinged in a way that won't land if you're looking for nuance.

Unhinged poster
More like this (8)

The Town2010

Affleck's Boston heist-thriller nails the thing Ambulance attempts: making criminals sympathetic without excusing them, while delivering genuine suspense and emotional devastation. The bank robbery sequences are masterful.

But Slower burn than Ambulance. Character work takes precedence over spectacle, which means less constant motion.

The Town poster

Uncut Gems2019

The Safdie Brothers' claustrophobic thriller about desperation and escalating stakes shares Ambulance's sense that normal rules don't apply anymore. It's relentlessly tense and Adam Sandler's performance is extraordinary.

But It's intentionally exhausting and anxiety-inducing. The constant pressure and frantic editing make it almost painful to sit through.

Uncut Gems poster

Wind River2017

Sheridan's crime thriller about tribal police investigating murders has that same sense of brothers working together against impossible odds, with real stakes and emotional weight. Slow-burn but devastating.

But It's quiet and meditative where Ambulance is loud. The pacing will feel glacial if you're coming from an action film.

Wind River poster

Hell or High Water2016

Two brothers commit crimes out of desperation while a cop pursues them through Texas. Sharp dialogue, genuine character arcs, and that same question: how far will family take you? The tension builds beautifully.

But Western-tinged and deliberately paced. If you need explosions and shaky-cam energy, this will feel too controlled.

Hell or High Water poster

Triple Frontier2019

Neuville's heist film about special forces operatives pulling one last job has Ambulance's DNA: brotherhood tested by crime, technical precision, and characters trying to justify terrible choices for justifiable reasons.

But It never quite finds its rhythm. The film wants to be both intimate and epic, and sometimes it's neither.

Triple Frontier poster

Savage2023

A taut crime thriller with genuine character work and the sense that desperation drives decent people to indecent acts. The stakes feel real and the action sequences have weight.

But It's a smaller film than Ambulance with less budget. Some sequences feel under-cooked compared to Bay's maximalist approach.

Savage poster

Tangerine2015

Both films use Los Angeles as a character and both compress intense, character-driven drama into a single-day framework where the landscape becomes as important as the plot. Both find beauty in chaos.

Shot on iPhones, this Los Angeles crime film follows two trans sex workers across one chaotic day hunting through the city. It has Ambulance's energy and momentum—the camera never stops moving—but with documentary-style urgency and genuine heart.

But The aesthetic is deliberately rough and unpolished. The LA you see here is lived-in and ugly, not cinematic. If you want glossy spectacle, this rejects it entirely.

Tangerine poster

The Inspection2022

Both films examine the bond between brothers (biological or found family) and ask whether that bond can justify moral compromise. Both suggest the answer is painfully complicated.

Jeremy Pope's Marine recruit is beaten down by a system designed to break him. It's a military drama—not an action film—but it captures something Ambulance cares about: what desperation does to brotherhood, and when loyalty becomes complicity.

But It's slow, painful, and punishing. The film demands you sit with suffering rather than celebrating action. Some will find it exhausting rather than cathartic.

The Inspection poster

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