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bank heist

Ambulance: Sound the Alarm. Bay-hem has Returned!

Like the siren announcing the arrival of an?Ambulance, Michael Bay likes to make some noise.

Ambulance tells the story of brothers Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal), two sons of an infamous bank robber. Following in his father?s legacy, Danny has become an expert in bank heists. At the same time, former Marine Will is a family man who loves his wife but struggles to find a job. When his wife falls ill, Will finds himself in desperate need of $200K in order to pay for the surgery. With no other options, Will begrudgingly decides to join Danny in his most ambitious bank heist yet. With the potential of a $32 million dollars haul, this duo?s robbery unexpectedly goes haywire and their plot becomes entangled with a dying cop and LA?s best paramedic as they plow through the streets in an ambulance.

Directed by Michael Bay, Ambulance is a fun ride (pun intended) around LA, spanning multiple areas and highways throughout the vast city. Without question, it?s Michael Bay at his most Michael Bay-ish. Featuring huge gun fights, cars rolling off of cliffs, loud explosions and rapid banter between characters, it?s got everything that you would want or expect from the director. (After all, there?s a reason they refer to his films as ?Bay-hem?.) The implications of Will?s journey throughout the film also provide some commentary on how American soldiers risk their lives for a country that seemingly abandons them. With little support from healthcare and insurance companies, veterans continue to struggle yet no one seems to notice (or care). 

Danny and Will are complete contrasts to each other. Danny is rich, smug and egotistical while Will is a caring, selfless man. Although both men embark on this robbery together, they also participate in the heist for wildly different reasons that reveal their character in the process. Fueled by his desire to add even more luxury to add to his already massive fortune, Danny takes on the job by pure choice. Will, however, has to do so because of his circumstances, as he is unable to pay for his wife?s surgery or take care of his child. What?s more, throughout their high-speed pursuit through LA, Will actively attempts to mitigate Danny?s actions and reduce any causalities. For example, Will even gives blood to aid an injured cop and helps the paramedic perform surgery. (To be fair, there?s a surprising complexity to Danny?s character. Although he appears to be only an entitled rich person, he genuinely cares for his brother and actively tries to set himself apart from the violence of his father.)

By the end of Ambulance, the film suggests that ?good karma? helps offset our actions. Similar to the age-old ethical question about whether stealing bread is justified to feed your family, Ambulance asks if you steal with good intentions, are you still considered a thief? Yes, you are still responsible for your actions. However, Ambulance also hopes that the quality of your heart will be a factor in determining your outcome. 

Overall,?Ambulance?offers all the action and insanity that you?d expect from a Michael Bay film. However, it also has some unexpected moral lessons and ethical questions through characters worth exploring. For that reason, it may be worth listening to the call of this?Ambulance?s siren, especially for fans of pure Bay-hem.

Ambulance is available in theatres on Friday, April 8th, 2022.

Backtrace – Memory and Loss

Backtrace is a story of memory, remembrance, and pain. But mostly it is a film about losing things we haven?t even appreciated losing.

When a trio of bank robbers go to meet the inside men who planned it all, a shoot-out occurs. Two of the robbers lay dead. The third, Donovan MacDonald (Matthew Modine), has suffered a severe brain injury, causing him to lose all memories before being shot. Seven years later, MacDonald is still in a locked mental hospital. He hasn?t been tried because he still can?t remember anything from before he got there.

A new inmate named Lucas (Ryan Guzman) suggests that he can help him escape. Along with a nurse named Erin (Meadow Williams) and a guard named Farren (Tylor Olson), he manages to get smuggled out of prison. The reason? He?s the only one who might remember where they hid $15,000,000. Erin injects him with an experimental drug that might bring back his memories. The side effects can be severe, but they are anxious to find the cash.

The escape brings the case back into the news and to the attention of police Detective Sykes (Sylvester Stallone) and FBI agent Franks (Christopher McDonald). The two don?t seem to like or trust each other and are clearly working at cross purposes. As bits of memories come back to MacDonald, he and those with him must try to piece together the few clues they have. Meanwhile the police are getting closer.

There are a couple of twists that take place, neither terribly earthshattering. So the story plays out as an action thriller with very little credibility. In fact, the thing that is most important for MacDonald to remember (which isn?t the money) gets very little attention. It is that discovery that provides the real sense of loss in his life.

Around the time of the end of the film, the thought that came to mind was, ?What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?? (Luke 9: 25, NRSV). As the end plays out, we should wonder about what MacDonald has gained (and lost) that is truly important. The film fails to take any of the characters deeper into questions of meaning or to ponder the relative value of the things that have been lost and found.

Hell or High Water – Brothers at Arms

hhwThe neo-Western?Hell or High Water?is one of the funniest, saddest, most exciting, thought-provoking films I’ve seen this year. Wrapped around the story of two brothers’ attempts to rob banks, this wildly different film shares their relationship, the saga of the nearly-retired Texas Ranger?on their heels, and the way that the U.S. economy plays a part in their story. It’s a must-see film of 2016, and one that you can now bring home on Blu-ray, DVD, or digital.

Desperate, divorced father Toby Howard (Chris Pine) throws in with his wildly spastic ex-con brother, Tanner (Ben Foster), starting a spree of bank robberies at branches of the Texas Midland Bank. Their plan seems flawless (doesn’t every heist film seem flawless at the beginning) but Tanner’s growing restlessness (and unnecessary penchant for violence) begins to grate on Toby – and threaten their plan. Meanwhile, the eccentric Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) leads his partner, Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham), closer and closer to capturing the two. [Of the other actors on screen, Katy Mixon’s turn as a diner waitress is a scene stealer.]

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The rapport between the two blood brothers, and the two brothers-at-arms in the Rangers, lends itself to a more intimate film. It’s a close-up on the robbers, and on the cops, but it shows the way that the concerns the pairs have are similar. [Note how the pictures of the two sets of men lay out nearly identical to each other.] They want security, friendship, and trust; they want to believe that their lives have meaning and purpose. But somehow, the violent streak of Foster’s Tanner seems to lurk like a threatening villain off in the corners. And ultimately, that violence takes a turn (as all of Foster’s roles do) that spins the course of the story off in a different direction from the feel-good Robin Hood vibe we have up until that point.

Until violence completely breaks out, we’ve been lulled into nearly believing that there are no victims because the big bank is really the villain; we can believe that we see ourselves in Toby and Tanner?as decidedly upset with the way our economies are unraveling or that we’re just like Hamilton, hoping to retire gracefully when the time comes, just not yet. But we shouldn’t be surprised that somehow Taylor Sheridan’s (Sicario) script is both realistic and terrifying at the same time, at least if we’ve seen that Denis Villenueve thriller.

hhw3Somewhere along the way, we recognize that Tanner can’t settle for the same things Toby and Hamilton want; there’s just something off about him. But we recognize in the way that the storyline plays out that both sets of brothers would do?whatever?it takes for their loved ones, that they would lay their lives down for their friends. It leads us to reflect on what we would fight for, how we define justice in an unjust world, and where we would go (and what lines we would cross) if our lives were on the line.

On the special features included in the home media releases, fans of the film can see how the characters of the film were developed in “Enemies Forever”; the look of the tan-and-green backdrop to the dusty America our robbers inherit gets unwrapped in “Visualizing the Heart of America”; and the way the cast delivers the story gets a spin in “Damaged Heroes.”