Ambulance | 2022 | R | – 1.8.10

Why is “Ambulance” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “intense violence, bloody images and language throughout.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of kissing scenes, many gunfights with people being struck and killed and bloody wounds shown, a makeshift surgery with a lot of blood and tissue, a person run over by a truck with twisted and bloody results, many scenes of chases with police vehicles and an ambulance with crashes and explosions, and over 80 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A Los Angeles man (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), desperate to find money for experimental surgery for his wife, asks a man he considers his brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) for help. Feeling he has no choice, he offers to join him in a bank robbery that will make them rich, but the outcome is not what they expect. Also with Eiza González, Garret Dillahunt, Keir O’Donnell, Jackson White, Olivia Stambouliah, Moses Ingram, Colin Woodell, Cedric Sanders and A Martinez. Directed by Michael Bay. [Running Time: 2:16]

Ambulance SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A husband and his wife kiss. Two men in couple’s counseling argue about their relationship until one gets a call and leaves, kissing his husband before he goes. Two men hug in greeting.
► During a chase in a police vehicle, a woman makes a suggestive remark to a man about handcuffs.

Ambulance VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – A police officer chases a man on a street and they fight when he catches him; they wrestle over a gun, which discharges shooting the man in the head (we see him lying dead on the ground with blood pooling under him). A man in a truck is shot from off-screen and blood sprays as he falls over. Two men in a parking garage shoot at police officers chasing them; one officer approaches the men and they argue, the officer punches one man and they fight on the floor until the other man shoots the officer (we see blood collecting on the floor under him and a bloody leg wound). Two men with guns shoot several other armed men in a room and continue shooting others as they leave the building and we see many people lying dead. A man is shot in the chest and we see the bullet shoot through his back (blood sprays and he falls). A man is shot in the chest and we see blood spray and splatter; he lies on the ground and blood pools under his body.
► An EMT prepares to perform emergency surgery on a wounded man in a speeding ambulance; she Facetimes with three surgeons that talk her through the procedure, she tells them that the patient is bleeding out from the spleen, she cuts the patient open at the abdomen, she and a man pull the flesh open (we hear squishing and see bloody tissue) and she reaches into the cavity to pull out the spleen; the patient wakes up and screams and the other man punches him to knock him out again, the spleen ruptures (blood spurts out), and the EMT uses a hair clip to cut off the artery feeding the spleen. An ambulance with sirens sounding pulls up to an accident scene where a woman is led away from a car (she has blood on her face and head) and an EMT assists a child in the backseat of the car; we see that a fence post has punctured her through the back and it sticks out her abdomen with blood around it on her clothing, and the child cries when a saw screeches cutting the post from outside of the vehicle. A young girl on a stretcher is wheeled into an ER and we see a part of a fence post protruding from her abdomen.
► A getaway truck speeds through streets and on sidewalks to get to robbers inside a bank: SWAT teams arrive on the scene and gunfire is exchanged as people run and scream, the truck slams into a man standing outside the building and we later see him lying in a large pool of blood with a bloody wound across his abdomen and his legs twisted unnaturally. Gunfire on a city street between SWAT and robbers ends with several people being shot (bloody wounds are shown) and a person thrown through a plate-glass window. A wounded police officer is loaded into an ambulance and gunmen threaten the driver to get out; he is struck in the head and two gunmen speed away in the vehicle. Snipers take position on buildings and high elevations in a few scenes waiting to get a clear shot. An EMT sprays a fire extinguisher in the face of two men stealing her ambulance and they cough, the EMT runs away and stops when one man holds a gun on her and the other tells her that the wounded man in the ambulance is seizing.
► A man on a stretcher in an ambulance lies unconscious and we see a lot of blood pouring onto the floor from a gunshot wound. An EMT does chest compression on a badly wounded man in an ambulance and gives him a shot of epinephrine. A wounded man in an ambulance is shocked with paddles when his heartbeat drops.
► An ambulance loaded with explosives drives toward a police roadblock and cars and officers are thrown when it blows up. A car mounted with a Gatling gun drives toward a police roadblock and shoots many officers (we see cars and people riddled by bullets and one man lies on the ground dying with a bloody wound in his chest). A rocket launcher is fired toward an ambulance, a car explodes and flips near it and a man is thrown through the windshield of the ambulance where the driver punches the man repeatedly and he is thrown off the vehicle and onto the ground. A man in an ambulance holds a gun to an EMT’s head as they are surrounded by many armed police; he tells her, “I’m gonna shoot you in the head on live TV.”
► An ambulance speeds through streets, highways, parking lots and empty lots, with many police vehicles in pursuit in many scenes throughout the movie; several vehicles are shown ramping and flipping and a few end up in flames, and others drive over a ridge. An ambulance drives the wrong way on a freeway and police cars chasing it crash into oncoming vehicles and a few cars swerve and flip. A getaway truck slams into the back of a parked police car and an officer jumps to the ground to get out of the way. Bank employees lie on the floor behind a counter in a bank while robbers hold guns on them; a police officer enters the bank and talks to a teller until a robber holding a gun stands behind him. A getaway truck breaks down and a police officer looks under the hood while the driver asks whether he should kill him; the truck starts again and the driver pulls away. A man in the passenger seat of an ambulance shoots a gun at helicopters chasing them; the helicopters swoop under bridges to continue chasing in several scenes. Police snipers shoot at an ambulance and it swerves; police cars chasing the ambulance slam into water barricades on the roadway.
► Men with guns unload from a truck and move through the hallways under a bank, they get in an elevator and pull masks over their faces and a woman stops the doors from closing using her cane and joins them on the elevator unaware of their purpose. Men load guns in a truck and prepare for a bank robbery. Tactical teams discuss plans to thwart a group robbing a bank in several scenes; a man says that one plan would be a “bloodbath.” We hear several news reports about a chase between police and an ambulance. Two young boys play cops and robbers with cap guns and one pretends to be shot and falls to the ground. People are shown on oxygen and monitors in hospital beds.
► Several men argue about a deal and an exchange of money and hostages. A man becomes angry when he realizes his dog is in a police car during a chase and the dog barks when it hears the exchange of gunfire. Two men argue and punch each other while speeding in an ambulance and the vehicle swerves. Two men argue about a robbery in a few scenes. A woman yells for her husband when she sees him wounded on the ground. A man yells at another man on a telephone in a few scenes. A man yells about his wife on the telephone in a few scenes. A man becomes agitated while trying to talk to insurance company representatives to get coverage for his wife. We understand that a man served in the military and see photos of him in uniform. A man talks about his wife needing experimental surgery and refers to cancer. A man talks about another man’s family taking him in when he was young. A man tells a woman that she has a reputation and that no one wants to be her partner. A woman tells a man, “That is the whitest thing I have ever heard.” A patient asks an EMT, “Was your hand in my stomach?” and she replies that it was. A man says, “I’m gonna throw up,” and a woman says, “We have barf bags.”

Ambulance LANGUAGE 10

 – About 85 F-words and its derivatives, 2 obscene hand gestures, 56 scatological terms, 10 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for African-American people, name-calling (gnarly, ugly beast, psycho, dumb, pig, psychotic, losers, awkward, moron, bummer, insane, gross, crazy, criminal, pretend brother, cowboy, nut jobs, Grand Theft Auto-vibe, tourist, knucklehead), exclamations (eff off, wo, shut-up, shut the [F-word deleted] up, stressing me out, fan [F-word deleted] tastic, take it easy, keep it cool), 6 religious profanities (GD), 13 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus, Jesus Christ, my God, oh my God, oh God, God, Holy…, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

Ambulance SUBSTANCE USE

 – Prescription vials are shown on a table (it is unclear what they are), and a woman confesses to having become addicted to “speed.” A woman drinks a non-alcoholic beer with a meal. A man smokes a cigar in a couple of scenes.

Ambulance DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Medical treatments and insurance coverage, desperation, family, losing faith, envy, family, rush hour in LA.

Ambulance MESSAGE

 – Making the right choices can be difficult when desperate.