Michael Bay's Underrated 2022 Action Thriller Should Be On Your Netflix Watchlist

Director Michael Bay is behind too many blockbusters to count. From '90s action favorites like "Armageddon" and "The Rock" to live-action adaptations of' classic cartoons like "Transformers," Bay has done it all. Yet, despite his successes, there's one movie in his filmography just as relentless, but doesn't get the recognition it should: The 2022 thriller "Ambulance," which has now arrived on Netflix.

"Ambulance" sees Academy Award-nominee Jake Gyllenhaal as Danny Sharp, a former Marine facing a bitter dilemma when his wife needs expensive life-saving surgery that he cannot afford. To raise the money, Sharp skips GoFundMe and comes up with a daring scheme to rob a bank and make off with $32 million. With the help of his adoptive brother and fellow Marine Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), Danny plans on hijacking an ambulance to use as a getaway vehicle. Unfortunately, their robbery goes wrong, and the Sharp brothers find themselves forced to fight their own conscience as they try to outrun police — while two hostages' lives hang in the balance.

A fast-paced, action-packed thriller, "Ambulance" is everything you want in a Michael Bay film, and then some. With a star-studded cast that includes Garrett Dillahunt, Eiza González, and Jackson White, it's among Bay's best directorial efforts, and is now on Netflix for anyone to stream.

"Ambulance" released in 2022, but it had been in development far longer. Adapted from the 2005 Danish film "Ambulancen," Michael Bay was the studio's first choice to direct, but was unavailable. While it went through multiple directors, including "Patriot Games" helmer Phillip Noyce, Bay wound up directing thanks to Covid-19. With his other projects on hold during the pandemic, the director was itching to work on something fast.

"I said to my agent, 'Goddamnit, I just want to get out and shoot something fast. I'm tired of being locked up at home,'" he recounted in an interview with the National News. Bay's thoughts returned to "Ambulance," and he realized he could shoot it fairly quickly and inexpensively — making it the perfect project for him coming out of the 2020 lockdowns. "It kind of suited my needs," he continued.

In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bay said it was his desire to get out of the house and be around people that prompted him to jump headfirst into the project. "I love to shoot. And I'm a director who doesn't have a trailer, doesn't have a director's chair. I don't have a video village." It's that gung-ho spirit that fueled Bay during production, and contributed to the faster, frenetic pace, helping make "Ambulance" one of the best action movies of 2022.