Ambulance Ending Explained: Does Will Survive? Is He Arrested?

Helmed by Michael Bay, ‘Ambulance‘ follows Will, a retired US Marine, who joins his brother, Danny, on a bank heist that is destined to change his life forever, one way or another. Troubled by financial woes, he chooses to step into the underworld, hoping to make a clean exit, but things go horribly wrong when a police officer named Zach gets involved. Backed into a corner, the brothers choose to do the unthinkable and hijack an ambulance, holding a paramedic named Cam hostage. With Danny holding back the police and Will becoming the getaway driver, the duo wreaks havoc all over Los Angeles, and each turn chips away at their moral consciousness. This action thriller, adapted from an eponymous Danish movie, directed by Laurits Munch-Petersen, deals heavily in the shades of grey, and the ending brings all of its conflicts to a bubbling climax. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Ambulance Plot Synopsis

‘Ambulance’ begins with William “Will” Sharp, a former US Marine who is desperately trying to contact the insurance company regarding an experimental surgery for his wife, Amy. When the company refuses to help him in any way, he reluctantly seeks out his wealthy half-brother, Daniel “Danny” Sharp. Elsewhere, Camille Thompson, a young paramedic, deals with a particularly vulnerable case with a little child trapped in a car accident wreckage. Two police officers, Mark and Zach, patrol the streets of Los Angeles, with the former bringing up his crush on one of the tellers at LA Federal Bank. All these disparate lives are destined to clash, as Danny turns out to be a robber planning a heist at the LA Federal. Initially, Will is quick to refuse the offer, angry at his brother for continuing with his criminal lifestyle. However, the idea of having more than enough money for Amy’s treatment forces him to reconsider the offer, and he ultimately agrees.

At the start, the heist goes smoothly, with Danny and his crew rounding up every employee and preparing an escape route in sync. However, at a critical moment, Officer Zach arrives on the scene, motivated by his partner to ask out the bank teller, named Kim. Danny keeps up the charade, explaining that the bank is under lockdown for a major transfer, but is unable to throw off Zach, who soon smokes out that something is wrong. With no choice, Danny holds the officer at gunpoint, adding him to his list of hostages. Unbeknownst to them, however, the LAPD has a special unit dedicated to uncovering Danny’s operations, and they manage to ambush the crew on their way out. Will and Danny run off on their own, using Zach as a hostage and shield. However, when the officer tries to fight back, Will shoots him in a hurry and has to hide with his brother till an opening arrives. Cam is tasked with saving Zach, but just when she arrives with her ambulance, Danny seizes the opportunity and hijacks the vehicle.

The rest of the movie takes the form of a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase, as both the LAPD and the FBI tail Will and Danny in the ambulance. Meanwhile, Zach’s condition deteriorates, and Cam steps up to the task, getting Will to transfer some of his blood and save Zach’s life. Danny doesn’t see the point in any of this and instead focuses on throwing off the police, be it by actively threatening them or by getting some additional help from a criminal gang leader named Papi. A plan begins to take shape, involving numerous decoy ambulances to throw off the police, with one in particular being loaded with explosive devices. However, in the ensuing chaos, Papi’s son is killed, and he demands revenge via the death of the two hostages, Cam and Zach. Will refuses to submit and, together with his brother, wipes out the entirety of the gang. Disaster still strikes in the eleventh hour, as Cam accidentally shoots Will, leaving him in critical condition. A furious Danny threatens to kill her in front of the news media, and Will is forced to make a choice.

Ambulance Ending: Does Will Live or Die? Is He Arrested?

‘Ambulance’ ends with Will shootingDanny and saving Cam’s life, tragically finishing off this heist saga. However, he is still far from getting out of trouble, as the most pressing issue continues to be the bullet wound in his chest. Although Cam manages to provide the necessary first aid, Will’s situation is still touch-and-go. With the immediate threat brought forth by Danny now gone, the police swoop in without wasting a moment, bringing Cam, Zach, and Will out of the ambulance. As Will has proven himself as someone whom Cam trusts, it is unlikely that he will be denied immediate medical care. To that end, the most probable conclusion for the character is that he lives to tell the tale. This is also narratively fitting, as while Danny pays the price for his series of wrongdoings, his half-brother still tries to make amends within his limited capacity. This pays off in the form of both Cam and Zach vouching for him, increasing his chances of survival.

Although Will might recover from his injuries, his incrimination in the robbery case is still very much on the table. As the surviving members of Danny’s gang have all been arrested, Will is likely to follow suit. However, unlike the rest of the crew, Will is a moral outlier who has proven his desire to save innocent lives at every turn. This compiles in his final act of saving Cam’s life, even if it means attacking his own brother. To that end, while he is most likely to be found guilty of robbery, as well as shooting an officer and holding two people hostage, his sentencing might not be as harsh as the others. With a lighter sentencing and rehabilitative measures, Will also has a better chance at returning to his family early, especially given how much they need him. However, his positive actions do not absolve him of the criminal endeavours he contributed to, and the film approaches that nuance with utmost sensitivity.

While the narrative strongly supports the idea of Will surviving the bullet wound, the possibility of him meeting his end cannot be ruled out. Given that Amy gets enough money for her treatment by the end, Will’s biggest concern is automatically alleviated. Additionally, he is also burdened by his decision to attack his own brother, and in such a scenario, we might see a grim conclusion in his cards. However, given the redemptive tone of the ending, it is more likely that he starts his life from scratch in the aftermath of the incident, learning not to fall into the same pitfalls as his brother did.

What Happens to the Heist Money?

With the failure of the heist, the 32 million dollars are most likely to return to the bank, but Will and Danny’s plans drive a wedge into the process. Together, they escape with sixteen million dollars, but the hostage crisis ends up diverting attention from that detail. In the end, it is Cam who returns the robbed money to a status of narrative relevance. When the officers are not looking, she takes a few stacks from the bag of money and secretly places them in the crib of Will and Amy’s son. This moment calls back to Will’s original motivation for robbing the bank, which was to secure enough money for Amy’s experimental surgery. Upon learning of this hidden motivation, Cam’s opinion on Will takes a turn, and her final act in the movie serves as a reflection of her change of heart.

At the start of the movie, Will reaches out to his brother for about two hundred thousand dollars, but is tempted with a ballooned-up number of six million dollars instead. The ending, on the other hand, ironically takes the majority of the sum from Will’s clutches, leaving his family with roughly the amount of money he needed all along. Although Will’s descent into crime is in equal parts a result of his greed and necessity, his original desperation for money is the result of the insurance system failing him and his family. With the money that Amy receives from Cam, she can now take on the experimental surgery that might save her life, and by extension give her son a better future. The rest of the money, however, is most likely to return to the financial institution in full. Additionally, the scale of this heist might raise the bank’s awareness about potential holes in their security, as is the case with real-life heists of a similar nature.

Is Danny Dead? Why Did Will Kill Him?

In the final sequence of ‘Ambulance’, Danny breathes his last after being shot in the back by Will, who wishes to put a stop to this trail of blood. However, instead of feeling betrayed by his half-brother’s actions, Danny apologizes, at last realizing the full scale and consequences of his action. From the beginning of the movie, every wrong step in Will’s life can be traced back to Danny, starting with his decision to rob the bank. Following their failure, he gets his brother involved in an elaborate heist, one that ends with blood on his hands. While Will tries his best to keep Danny away from the brink, he ultimately fails at the task. As such, the ending has an ironic element to it, as one brother has to kill another to stop him from falling any deeper into the downward spiral.

Notably, Danny’s intention is to kill himself regardless of how things turn out. The fact that he tries to drag Cam into the mix is a result of his blinding rage. He believes that she pulled the trigger on Will intentionally, and cannot be left with his brother while he takes his own life. However, Will’s intervention in the last minute counters his belief and shows the core differences between the two. Despite being shot, Will understands Cam’s position in the larger scheme of things, as well as how Danny is largely to blame for these nightmarish turn of events. Although many of his actions are driven by a twisted sense of love for his brother, Danny often ends up doing more harm than good, and realizes that too late. To that end, the realization that Will will likely survive this ordeal also brings him some peace in his dying moments. Will, on the other hand, has the exact opposite position, as grief and regret tear him apart from the inside.

What Happens to Zach and Cam?

While Will and Danny meet their respective poetic conclusions, Zach and Cam manage to survive by a thread in their own ways. For Cam, the possibility of dying on live television is thwarted due to Will’s timely intervention, which indirectly ends up saving Zach’s life as well. As the police arrest Will, the two hostages are safely evacuated, with Zach particularly lying that it was Danny, not Will, who shot him. Ironically, it is Will who shoots Zach twice at the start of the movie. While the original plan is to leave the officer behind for a slow and painful death, fate brings them together once again, fittingly in an ambulance. Here, Will’s background as an army medic comes into play, as he helps Cam with an impromptu surgery, stitching up his wounds and fixing his ruptured spleen along the way. The scene also symbolically connects to Amy, who is in need of an experimental surgery of her own. The link comes to fruition in the final scenes of the movie, where Cam chooses to help Will’s family.

At the start of the movie, Cam tries her best to keep her deeper anxieties in check by simply focusing on her work as a paramedic, but the sharp turn of events not long after forces her to reevaluate her perspective on life and how she interacts with people. Although she temporarily tries to escape the scene, leaving Zach behind, Cam steps up in a moment of crisis by not only saving his life but also Will’s. To that end, it is possible that she might pursue a career as a doctor in the future, putting her talent and experience to even better use. For Zach, who is a budding police officer, life is bound to drastically change as well. Nonetheless, he is likely to return to duty along with Officer Mark, who went through heaven and hell to save his partner’s life. Although both Zach and Cam are subjected to a harrowing tragedy, their subtly developed relationship with Will speaks to humanity’s ability to connect even in the most dire circumstances.