User reviews

Some excellent acting all round (even Mike Tyson was believable), and not enough props given to the actor that played Lafontaine, Michael Pitt.

While I don't need a film neatly served up to me, there was just a little too much flip-flopping around, including things that are brought up and never explained- eg. Swapping Cross and Rutkovsky around with who took the baby, so you are uncertain for a while, who did what.

The misery is relentless- the hostility from the patients with mental illness or other issues I sort of get (the amount of gang members they pick up, and have to deal with abuse from their friends is unreal), but constant harassment/bullying from their own team not to mention some of the police. Is it really this dysfunctional?

Still, enjoyed the film nonetheless, always good to see something original about a role we don't see on the silver screen that often.

Nice to see Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris Partlow from The Wire), albeit in a small role.

'Asphalt City' aka 'Black Flies' has a point to make and goes the extra mile to drive it home. Casual moviegoers who want light, something uplifting are in the wrong place. Though you're not wrong to question if it's too heavy or removed from reality at times. It seems appropriate they set the tale in NYC as it was once the haven for hard boiled action flicks, horror nasties that liked to play up it's once seamy nature. As one who never sat thru the Nic Cage pic 'Bringing Out the Dead', I thought the ride here thru the ups and downs of a paramedic was unique if not scattershot.

Cross (Tye Sheridan) a newbie NYC paramedic gets a crash course in death, sadness and the futility of helping the public. Who sometimes distrust, loath, don't appreciate or abuse people in civil service frontline jobs. Mainly stuck to the nightshift, he lives in a rundown apartment with strangers and studies to become a doctor. Soon enough his world mentally starts to unravel and an incident with his veteran partner 'Rut' (Sean Penn) is either a really bad mistake or something much worse. A wakeup call to not go down the wrong path, circling the drain.

The story is mainly a collection of emergency calls of various states of panic, distress and the learning curve that goes along with it. The film is purposely dark and you see the correlations between the mens journeys at certain points. Michael Pitt & Gbenga Akinnagbe play fellow paramedics and in a bit of stunt casting Mike Tyson their immediate supervisor. Really the strength here is two leads - Sheridan, Penn - willing to throw themselves into their roles and what is has to say about the toll paid on people doing this for a living.

'Asphalt City' left me wondering a lot about paramedics. What they get paid, the worst of what they see and ultimately why they do it. Having it all go down in the city that never sleeps as opposed to small town USA wasn't lost on me. I knew the effect they were going for here at all times. Only in the last quarter of it's two hour runtime did I wish for a more fleshed out story, sanctuary from it's dark nature. It's not a home run, but it's also not bad like some people are making it out to be.

"You can't save everyone."

That's the most important lesson that rookie FDNY paramedic Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan) needs to learn from his veteran partner Gene Rutkovsky (Sean Penn) in the dark and edgy new film, Asphalt City.

The pressure of knowing you're the only thing that might be keeping a victim from turning into a fatality haunts the duo as they drive the overnight shift on the mean streets of East New York.

Gunshot victims, heart attacks, premature births, dog bites, gang violence, and schizophrenics are just a sample of the people who we briefly meet and are just as quickly dismissed and disguarded in Director Jean-Stephane Sauvaire's new film. Like the EMT crew, we're never given time to care about these people, especially those who may be one short push from the grave.

And that's the point that Rutkovsky continually tries to impress on his new partner. Do what you can, in the time that you have, and move on. Don't remember their faces. Don't remember their families. Because to carry that with you will drive you insane. Above all, don't feel responsible because you didn't put them on the ground with a fatal gunshot wound in their femoral artery.

Unfortunately, as the movie unfolds, "Rut" has a change in his personal circumstances and takes one case too much to heart. Meanwhile, Cross is struggling to keep his head above water. Between the low pay, his horrible living situation, and the lack of friends or family, Cross feel he is continually drowning in unending tragedies. He has zero confidence in his ability to save anything - not a gunshot victim, not even a dog.

One has to wonder, are the people who seek these jobs craving the absolute psychosis that comes with it, or are they made psychotic by the stream of crazy?

Cross does have a goal: to pass the MCAT and leave this dark, depressing world behind for the more regulated system of a hospital. But it's obvious that he's learning far more with his on-the-job training than he'll learn in any study guide.

Mike Tyson pops up as Cross and Rut's superior officer. Michael C. Pitt is cast as the EMT who's chiefly entertained by picking on the new guy. Every one of the EMT's seems to be walking PTSD victims.

Gritty. There's no better word for Asphalt City. It's a film as gritty as the city it portrays. You'll be exhausted, but go for the rush.

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.

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.

There is absolutely no doubt that 'Black Flies' is a grim movie. I confess I hadn't even heard of it and it seems to have slipped under the radar but for all of it's gloom and doom it is well worth watching. One thing the movie does very well is to make the viewer fully aware of just how horrendous being a paramedic can be and boy will you respect them more after this.

This is a well acted film with the two leads showing good chemistry and at times some ad-libbing if I'm not mistaken. One thing I absolutely hated though is the totally unnecessary nudity from one actress which added nothing to the movie apart from cheap thrills. It got to the stage where I was actually yelling at the screen 'put some cloths on love for crying out loud'. Rant over, this is a good effort, bleak but pretty decent.

"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.

I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of this movie. From the opening scene, it grips you and doesn't let go until the credits roll. The performances are top-notch, each actor bringing a raw authenticity to their role. The close-up shots add to the intensity and suspense, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats throughout. What's truly impressive is how the cinematography effortlessly places us right in the heart of the action, without any unnecessary gimmicks. It's a testament to the pure talent behind the camera. This film offers a gripping glimpse into the world of EMTs, showcasing both the challenges they face and the passion they bring to their work. I'm hoping for more intense and compelling movies like this where talent and passion takes over.

There are movies that are devastating, yet you want to watch them again and again over the years, they leave a lasting memory behind, and even with a soul crushing subject they manage to be magnificent.

Now this one was not that sort of movie. It's hard to even look at it as a movie. It feels like a hastily thrown together rough outline that someone jotted down to at some point make a movie out of it, but never gotten there. The camera is often pushed right into the subject's face, so much so that it feels like parts of the frame are missing. It's overlong, overly drawn out, overly slow without much of a story. Everybody is either seriously mentally ill (including those that supposed to help), or a habitual drug abuser, or a gang member. Everything is dark and wet and dilapidated and repulsive. Not a glimmer of hope or light, as if the whole of NY has not ONE "regular" injury or ailment an ambulance crew would occasionally encounter, only the drug overdoses, drive by shootings etc., not to mention not one decent person around in general. It's laying the misery on so thick it's just obscene. And by overdoing it so much it manages to not elicit any empathy or sadness, it just remains incredibly boring and pointless.

I suffered through it, waiting for something to happen, some sort of story to emerge, some sort of connection with the film to form, but it never happened. To my mind this was not "gritty", just a long misery porn.

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.

In relentlessly harrowing drama "Asphalt City" (aka "Black Flies") grizzled veteran Sean Penn & naive newbie Ty Sheridan are ambulance paramedic partners. Trying to help NY's ungrateful scum dregs every night, their souls are in danger of sliding into a black abyss. There are minor supports from the likes of Katherine Waterston, Mike Tyson & Kali Reis, but this is all about Penn & Sheridan (excellent actors in fine form) and Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire who directs Ryan King & debutant Ben Mac Brown's screenplay with style & intensity. It's noble fare that'll garner great respect for those doing the paramedic job, but at over 2hrs long it is an admittedly HARD watch.

Asphalt City is the type of movie that endlessly forces the heavy message onto the audiences face with it's overbearing emotions and cynical approaches which ends up creating an poor, messy and comedically unserious story about a serious subject of paramedic workers and the trauma they experience.

The writing and direction is trying to be like Bringing Out the Dead with the themes of the dark sides and struggles of paramedic workers but this movie fails to capture the trauma and tone properly due to it's forced message that is shoved right into your face, bland direction, unlikeable characters and unengaging structure that makes the movie difficult to observe. With bland direction, the performances were the best parts as Tye Sheridan and Sean Penn are giving solid performances throughout the movie and there are some nice camerawork throughout. Unfortunately, they are overshadowed with poor dialogue, poor editing and really uninteresting character developments.

As someone who had worked in the medical field and known a feel friends who worked as paramedics, the movie really does a disservice to real paramedic works and fails to really give them the respect it thinks it does. Because this movie is cynical with it's portrait and fails to deliver.

Top actors can lift a film.

Does Sean Penn ever disappoint on film?

I'm sure others better qualified can answer that, I haven't seen all the films he's starred in, but many.

After watching this, I am convinced that if the movie had not had a star actor like Sean Penn, this movie would have ended up being mediocre. Because the script itself and the action in this film could quickly end up as a dime a dozen. But that doesn't happen.

The film's plot is bleak. In a hard, stressful and chaotic everyday life, we follow ambulance drivers on missions in New York. From the first scene, we witness a relentless and humanly very demanding job.

The film depicts the ingratitude these encounter. How few bright spots they encounter in endless suffering around the big city.

Beyond depicting the misery, the film shows the human cost of having such a demanding job. In addition to the exhausting tasks, there is also little support to be found in the rest of the working environment.

In this film, Sean Penn together with Tye Sheridan manage to give life and depth to the ambulance drivers who never know what they are up against. Who always have to perform, perform and perform. Even if the effort is also in vain. The recipe for burnout? Oh yes. The film's strength is precisely to see what it does to a person in the long run to be eaten away at over time.

I think this was a good film, with a strong message and great impact.

Asphalt City aims to give a realistic, unfiltered look at the life of paramedics in America's hellhole inner cities. Scene after scene unfolds with new nihilistic horrors that take their toll on the main protagonists.

Gunshot victims dying, HIV infected heroin junkies giving premature births, children bitten by dogs, gang violence, being cussed out by crazy people recounting their childhood rape traumas...

The film is well shot and acted (except Mike Tyson who sticks out like a sore thumb), which makes these scenes even more impactful. Some of them stay with you, but the question is why? There's little to no overarching narrative, it's just scene after scene of absolute misery.

And maybe that's the point. If so, kudos to the producers for pulling it off.

It's not an experience I could imagine anyone enjoying, but it may have value as training footage for paramedics and ER doctors.

Love Tye Sheridan, & regardless of how one feels about Sean Penn, he's an excellent actor.

The "script" is spare, which I feel is the right approach, as the type of grueling, unforgiving work being viewed doesn't need a lot of polishing--one needs to be immersed in the fear, tension, elation, high-wire act emergency services can be in an urban environment. But, the direction was lacking. I'm not familiar with the director's body of work, so perhaps this is first foray into slice-of-life directing. It can't be easy, trying to maintain cinematic gravity with no frippery, and capture an audience attention enough to introduce them to this world that must aren't familiar with. The story isn't supposed to be "Hollywood". It's cinema verité at it's ugly best. Despite his best intentions, I think that director is the soft spot in this film.

Was also happy to see indie oddball Michael Pitt. I was literally thinking about him 2 days ago. Love/like/hate him, you never quite forget his screen presence. He's slightly unnerving, with the ethereal face of an angel hiding a coiled snake ready to snap. Also, the man never ages.

Keep it brief review:

"Asphalt City (Black Flies)" Follows a rookie NYC paramedic as he struggles to cope with the high pressures of night shift in the city that never sleeps. Essentially "Training Day" meets "Bringing Out the Dead". Featuring a strong performance from Sean Penn, however sadly the film feels as cold and empty as its title suggests. The world of emergency medicine is fascinating and has many stories to tell, unfortunately this film squanders what could have been an interesting story to tell, and instead features a hollow script and story identity crisis. The end result is a cold bloated mess with no satisfying conclusion.

Positives: + Good performance from Sean Penn + Shows some of the cold harsh reality that paramedics have to deal with.

Negatives:

• Overlong long story that has major identity crises.

• Paramedics have very interesting stories and challenges and sadly this script doesn't do much with the material.

• Cold and hollow story telling with no real pay off.

2 out of 5.

Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan) is a rookie paramedic in the chaotic New York City. Gene Rutkovsky (Sean Penn) is his world-weary veteran partner. Lafontaine (Michael Pitt) is another paramedic and Chief Burroughs (Mike Tyson) is their commander.

Tye Sheridan is a great young actor. Sean Penn is solid. I can't see Mike Tyson as anything other than Mike Tyson. I want a real actor in that role. Why not have Mike Tyson play Mike Tyson in one of the emergencies instead. He could be punching out a guy.

This is a lot of crazy emergencies all jammed into a two hour movie. I would have preferred a single-night story. Single-night stories can have the intensity of time. This is going for hyper dynamic story telling. I get it. I'm not generally against it but it does seem over the top. One can excuse it since the story is told over a long time. All this craziness wears me out in a two hour movie. Otherwise, it's fine.

I thought that this might be an interesting film to watch, it's a dark movie, the acting was good but there were so many thing wrong on the medical side, I don't know how they do things in the US but I've never seen medical staff prep an IV bag using their teeth or open anything sterile using their teeth, doing CPR in the back of a vehicle without the AED pads on, not using the AED correctly and I could keep going on and on. The whole dog thing was way out there, if anyone here did that with the dog that'd be their last day on the job, also the whole conflict thing between paramedics, very unprofessional, I've NEVER seen anything even close to that, same with paramedics getting aggressive with the police and lastly, nothing annoys me more than someone chewing on a god damn tooth pick all the time.

On paper it's a very classic script: rookie emergency service worker is paired with older and more experienced colleague and, well, things happen. But many films are classic on paper, yet not on the screen.

This is a film with powerful scenes which stay with you for days after watching it.

And it has its flaws: it lacks finesse at time, editing is sometimes inconsistent and the narrative may seem not original enough.

But it makes up for all of that through the passion of showing the viewer a powerful message. Black Flies is a movie you will remember, and this is what all good films have in common. Years after seeing it you may still think about scenes you've seen and the characters' lifes and what happened to them. And isn't that what cinema is about, beyond perfect mise-en-scene and guidebook takes?

I particularly appreciated the way it was filmed, especially during very graphic scenes, where the disturbing side was accentuated by the quickly moving and sometimes shaking camera.

I also liked that, despite the fact the movie is supposedly much anchored to reality given its subject, it is filmed in a way that makes it feel like the characters are in another world, parallel and similar to ours, but with slightly different codes. Black Flies is almost like a video game world where violence is programmed and reason nonexistent, New York City is dark, gloomy and burning. In this inferno, the characters live an infinite struggle to save sometimes unsaveable people, making their role look like a necessary curse, a drop of good in an ocean of evil.

8/10.

A disjointed script, poor editing, incongruous music, questionable flashbacks, repetitious shots of NYC, and mediocre acting from the principals do not a good film make. On the other hand, some of the brief series with actors/actresses who play patients are wonderful. Makes you want a new AA category - "best acting in less than 2 minutes on screen."

Why make such a depressing film. Maybe they should have made a documentary? Maybe it should be a pilot for a new TV series? What it shouldn't be is a film.

I knew after 10 minutes I should walk out. 9 out of 10 times I feel that way, and don't do it, I regret doing it. About 10% of the time staying works. This time it didn't. I stayed because I respect Penn's acting, and from time to time it does show up, but all to rarely.

"Asphalt City" is a gritty, well-paced crime thriller that delves into the murky underworld of urban corruption and the moral compromises individuals make in their pursuit of survival and power. While the film doesn't break new ground in terms of plot, it delivers a satisfying blend of tension, action, and character-driven drama.

The narrative follows a central character-an ordinary man caught in the web of crime-who finds himself at a crossroads as he gets deeper into the city's criminal underbelly. The film's strength lies in its ability to capture the harsh, unforgiving atmosphere of the city, which acts almost like another character, shaping the decisions of the protagonist and those around him.

The performances are solid across the board, with the lead actor bringing a raw, believable energy to his role. While the supporting cast doesn't have as much room to shine, they effectively contribute to the overall tension, giving the film a grounded, realistic feel. The character arcs, though somewhat predictable, are engaging enough to maintain interest, and the film's pacing keeps the viewer invested throughout.

However, "Asphalt City" doesn't quite elevate itself beyond the typical crime thriller tropes. The plot may feel familiar to fans of the genre, and the stakes, while high, don't carry the emotional weight of some other standout crime films. There are moments where the film flirts with predictability, and certain plot twists feel a bit too convenient.

Overall, "Asphalt City" is an enjoyable, well-crafted film that delivers what it promises-an exciting crime drama with strong performances and a gripping atmosphere. It's not revolutionary, but it's a solid watch for fans of crime thrillers looking for something with enough grit and intensity to keep them engaged.

Didn't know anything about this. Pretty chaotic start with high tension. The shaky camera work and heavy breathing added to that. Shocked to see Mike Tyson.

The movie did feel real. It didn't appear forced to make it more engaging; rather, it simply depicted the day-to-day life of a paramedic. While it may not be the most memorable, I appreciated its realism. Throughout the film, various elements are introduced to the plot, including events outside of work life, particularly in the first half. But really it all revolved around work.

It's like a buddy cop movie, but with paramedics. We witness tough decisions, patient losses, workplace tensions, and personal relationship dynamics. At times, it's quite graphic. The movie does pretty well at effectively portraying how the job can affect one's mental well-being.

I'm curious about the symbolism behind the wings-both the painting and the jacket. It started feeling quite lengthy, especially in the third act. Despite being super loud, the soundtrack does a pretty good job of building a tense atmosphere.