Asphalt City

"We all work in the darkness, you don't got to let it inside you."

Asphalt City is directed by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire and stars Tye Sheridan, Sean Penn, Michael Pitt and Mike Tyson.

Based on the book called Black Flies the long in development Asphalt City originally had Mel Gibson attached in the Sean Penn role back in 2019 before he dropped out or was replaced for unknown reasons. This movie tries to present the harsh reality of what it's like to be an EMT in a big city like New York and while watching I was reminded of three separate and better movies. This movie sort of has the same kind of stress and dread a Safdie Bros movie would have because every scene a character is pretty much involved in a stressful situation and there's this existential dread hanging over this movie. Then this obviously bares comparison to Scorsese's Bringing Out The Dead and in the last half it turns into Training Day with the movie making us question the morals of Sean Penn's character and if he should have his job or not.

Performance wise Penn and Sheridan both do a good job. However Mike Tyson whenever he does pop up was more distracting than effective in his role. Michael Pitt didn't really need to be in this movie either. Overall I'd say this is a somewhat effective movie that is worth watching once, it kind of loses itself because it gets overly consumed in dread and darkness like Tye Sheridan's character does here but in the final five minutes I'd say it kind of works it's way back and presents an overall positive message where you'll finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Sean Penn is great in this dark New York City drama. The film is centered around two paramedics one seasoned and one new to the game that then become partners. They work the overnight shift in New York City as paramedics, so they see some crazy intense stuff along the way. Either I am missing it or I am not properly following it, but the film does not seem to have much of a plot other than to shoe how gritty the city is to these paramedics and it shows two men young and older on how they deal with it. I don't think the plot was there until about the last 30 minutes which is a huge flaw of this film.

I can't tell if that's a step up for Mike or a step down for Sean Penn. Unfortunately for Penn, I need to say the latter. This movie came and went without any promotion for it, despite what a great film it is. Tye Sheridan got to flex his acting muscle sparing with Sean Penn and of course Mike Tyson, who was fit for the role so it made sense. The film kept reminding me of the Martina Scorsese film Brining up the Dead, which starred Nicolas Cage in a role similar to Sean Penn, in fact, the concept of both movies almost makes Asphalt City a sequel. It does not help that there are not enough movies about the subject to think otherwise.

Anyway, this movie is too good to be hidden away like it seems to be.

It's atmospheric, slow, dark. All the things that a good and bloody drama should be.

Perfectly cast with some great acting and not too over the top. Even the legendary Mike Tyson makes an appearance which, even though questionable as a casting, he pulls it off perfectly.

Thrown in at the deep end, the main protagonist, a rookie paramedic is on the verge of madness. The film shows exactly what emergency workers have to attend to, day in, day out, and how it affects them, bustling on the verge of madness and faced with the adversity of violence.

It certainly packs a punch. Known as 'Black Flies' in the UK. Give it a watch.

As someone who does this for a living, this was pretty close to the mark. Although the amount of tragedy and grief we see the protagonist experience in his first few weeks is somewhat more than a senior paramedic would see in an entire career, it was necessary in order to tell the story and depict what EMS workers go through in a two hour time limit. Yes, some scenes were exaggerated, but it is no secret that over a career as a paramedic, these are things you WILL see, for sure. Legitimately.

The acting was absolutely superb - on all accounts. The chemistry between Tye Sheridan and Sean Penn was incredible. Sean Penn did such a good job here, he really sold his role with Rutkovsky. Tye Sheridan was a fantastic protagonist who really captured the truth of what it feels like starting in EMS in NYC. The place really is a jungle out there. Direction was great. A near perfect film - just some minor gaps in the story telling that , honestly, I forgot about.

I'm not sure how this movie has a low score. This was a very solid 8/10, IMO.