An average movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Michael Bay and since it was starring Jake Gyllenhaal, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that I was actually really surprised by the damned thing and, in my opinion, it was easily the most enjoyable movie Bay has delivered in the last 20 years, no less than that. Basically, it felt as if he tried to remake ‘Heat’ and added to it an endless chase with an ambulance. Sure, on paper, it might sound terribly misguided but the end-result was some kind of new version of Michael Mann’s classic on steroids and, as far as I was concerned, this wild ambulance chase was actually quite entertaining. It was also quite a masterstroke to have Jake Gyllenhaal, still probably one of the best actors of his generation, and it was just really cool to see that he kept his usual high-level commitment even when he was dropped in your usual bombastic Bay nonsense. With him, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was also pretty good and they made a charismatic duo. Concerning Eiza González, well, I’m afraid she was actually the weakest of the bunch. Sure, as usual, she looked quite gorgeous but it was exactly the issue, it was ridiculous that this paramedic looked like a freaking top-model. Furthermore, her whole speech that nobody would be her partner was just so annoying. Indeed, during my career, I had to work with some major deepsh*ts but I would have traded them in a second for someone who was super professional and looked like her. Eventually, even though it was not far from completely win me over, the only thing that prevented it from being one of the best action flicks I have seen in years was the fact that, like most blockbusters delivered by this director, it was just too long. As a result, even though some of the dialogues were sharp and quite funny, some of the other dialogue scenes didn’t work so well and could have been removed. Same thing with the ending, since it was just a brainless action flick, there was no need to drag it forever with some tedious sentimental shenanigans. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it turned out to be a really solid action flick and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

6/10