Michael Bay Clears Up Comments He Made About the CGI Effects in His New Movie ‘Ambulance’

Michael Bay loves to combine explosive practical effects with realistic visual effects. His new movie, Ambulance, from Universal Pictures, appears to blend these two together in a way that creates a heart-pounding experience. However, the director made comments about the movie’s CGI recently that created some confusion. Now, Bay has addressed what he said about Ambulance and clarified what he meant. 

Michael Bay said some of the CGI in ‘Ambulance’ is ‘s***’

Bay’s latest action movie, Ambulance, stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as bank robbers who find themselves caught in a wild police chase through Los Angeles. The trailers promise the firework explosions and rapid gunfire that we have come to expect in a Bay movie. 

While Bay’s movies usually look great, the director recently made some interesting comments about the CGI in Ambulance. In a video interview with Bay and the Ambulance cast orchestrated by European theater chain, ​​Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont, Bay said that most of the film is filled with practical effects, but some of the visual effects are below average, to say the least.

“Some of the CGI is shit in this movie,” Bay said. “There’s a couple shots that I wasn’t happy with, OK?”

Michael Bay provides some clarity to these comments regarding his movie ‘Ambulance’. 

In a phone interview with Polygon, Bay commented that he believes that his quotes were taken out of context. The media outlet asked him if he liked the CGI effects in Ambulance to which he replied, “That’s a bit of a misnomer. […] That day, you say something, [then] they take it out.”

Bay then explained that while Ambulance relied mostly on practical effects, there are some visual shots that he wishes he had more time to perfect. 

“We did very little CGI for this movie,” Bay explained. “There’s some really good and then there’s a couple shots that I’m like, ‘I wish I had more time,’ whatever. There’s some very good work [in this movie.] I’ve always had really good CGI. […] But yeah, there’s a lot of real explosions, real car crashes, real stuff.”

Many of the director’s movies blend practical and CGI effects together

Throughout Bay’s career in movies, he has become associated with absurd, but entertaining action sequences. Cars crash into each other, buildings are demolished, and massive explosions occur. Movies like Pearl Harbor and Bad Boys contain CGI, but the effects blend with the practical effects so well that you would never notice. Bay’s Transformers movies contain the most CGI, but they are still very impressive. 

While his movies are often criticized for having poor narratives or cheesy dialogue, there’s no dying that a movie directed by Bay is an absolute spectacle. The director told Polygon that he considers himself to be a “dying breed” because he loves to do his own stunts in a new Hollywood where many action sequences are digitally enhanced. 

“I’m kind of dying breed where I do my own stunts, and we make it real, and I work with the best people in the world,” Bay said. “To me that’s fun. I don’t like doing it in computers.”

Ambulance drives into theaters on April 8.