Danger One is a 2018 action/comedy about two paramedics who, while transporting a dying man, find a million dollars in cash sewn into his clothing.
There’s not a one of us who hasn’t thought at least once in our lives about what it would be like to find a boatload of money hidden in some unexpected place. Imagine the possibilities? It’d be the answer to all our dreams. Of course, more often than not, especially in movies, it’s just the opposite, the start of a nightmare, and in Tom Oesch‘s latest caper Danger One, it’s just that, and while the story might feel a little familiar, and the outcome obvious, it’s nonetheless a clever comedy with a string of smart turns and a genuinely entertaining style that give it plenty to keep it in the black.
Dean (Tom Everett Scott) is a conundrum, a sort of misguided, directionless guy who works as a paramedic for an ambulance company he owns. It’s not all the successful, the business waning and the upkeep too expensive. With only two ambulances – his fave nicknamed Danger One – the trucks are a decade or more out of step, understocked and barely kept on the road. Riding with him is Eric (James Jurdi), a new father struggling to keep his marriage together, desperate to earn more money to support his family. Imagine their luck though when one night at the scene of a car accident, they pick up a passenger on his last breath, bringing along firefighter Max (Damon Dayoub) to help as they rush to the hospital. While the patient dies on the gurney, they make a startling discovery: sewn into the dead man’s clothes are wads of hundred dollar bills in sealed plastic bags. All told, it’s a million bucks and both Dean and Max see a payday in the find. After convincing a reluctant Eric to join them, the trio decide to split the cash but as you can guess, this is a terrible mistake.
Films that center on the sudden discovery of vast sums of ill-gotten cash have become nearly a subgenre all their own, the possibility of outrageous fortune bringing out the very worst in those who stumble upon it. Danger One doesn’t stray too far from the formula running the spectrum of good folks to really, really bad (look for some particularly nasty madness from Denis O’Hare), with Eric being the voice of reason while most of those who orbit around him shed just about every fiber of decency. Of course he falls into the pit of vipers pretty quickly as things spiral out of control as both the hooligans who lost the money and authorities tracking it close in.
READ MORE: Director Tom Oesch Talks About The Making of Danger One
A slow build, what works best in all this is Oesch’s direction, his quick cuts and closeups helping a lot in giving it some momentum as it pushes towards it chaotic end. This is a good looking movie. Writer Steffen Schlachtenhaufen knows his influences well and taps into the pack with abandon, stacking the plot with plenty we’ve seen before but at least rounds it all out with enough flare that it finds it footing the more it moves on.
While there are some issues, mostly with some tonal and audio missteps that don’t always strike, there’s a curious compulsion to see where it goes. Of the cast, Scott is the most up for the dark comedy, getting the most out of his off-centered medic, his twisted glee in the rising mayhem earning the film’s best moments. Jurdi does what he can but lacks the caught-in-a-bear-trap panic the part needs. Still, throwing in the kitchen sink, Danger One might not have the chaotic spinning plates mentality of a Coen Brothers but is certainly manic enough to earn some credit. A solid recommendation.