You find a million dollars sewn into the clothes of the now-dead guy you’re transporting to hospital. What do you do, keep it? Obviously.
Paramedic, Dean (Tom Everett Scott), and Firefighter, Max (Damon Dayoub), see that as a given, but their colleague Eric (James Jurdi) doesn’t seem to agree. More money, more problems is an understatement, as the million leads to friendship rifts, cop killing and a face off with a merciless master criminal.
Danger One is the feature length debut of Swiss director Tom Oesch, after years of working on movie shorts and TV. The script comes from Steffen Schlachtenhaufen, known for 2012’s sadistic horror, Would You Rather.
The film stars Tom Everett Scott (That Thing You Do, ER, Law & Order) as drug fuelled, once ambitious, paramedic and ambulance service owner Dean, whose trusty ambulance – code name: Danger One – is on its last legs. Eric (Jurdi – Pocket Listing, Reaper) is struggling to keep his marriage together, working all hours much to the disdain of his wife, and underpaid by his so called best friend (although Dean’s unwillingness to pay him works out in the end). So when they stumble across the cash, it seems like everyone’s prayers have been answered – but at what cost?
It doesn’t take long for things to turn nasty, and for friends/co-workers to turn on each other. That’s the least of the paramedics’ worries though, with the police on their tail, and the real owner of the money, Craddock (Denis O’Hare – American Horror Story, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, True Blood), wanting his contraband back.
The stand-out performances definitely come from Scott and O’Hare. Dean’s a well crafted, ego-centric, charismatic nightmare, with not a single ounce of conscience, but as it turns out, a fairly big heart. Craddock has no morals, murder is part of his day job, and he’ll do anything to get what he wants – the ultimate villain in an action movie like this.
Quite slow going for the most part, and with a fairly predictable plot, it takes the action and violence in the last 20 minutes (the 5 minute finale in particular) to redeem the rest of the movie. The comedic element leaves something to be desired too, with funny moments few and far between, making them feel a little forced and out of place.
Overall it’s a fun movie, with some great performances and one hell of a climax, but the pace and plot make it a bit of a long journey to get to the good bit.
 find a million dollars, putting them in a fight against a criminal (Denis O'Hare).){kind=link}