Paramedic Thriller Asphalt City Drops Intense 4-Minute Clip [EXCLUSIVE]

Asphalt City is an upcoming drama/thriller that aims to explore the life-and-death world of paramedics in New York City. The movie was directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, whose past work includes A Prayer Before Dawn and Johnny Mad Dog. It was written by Ben Mac Brown and Ryan King (The Tutor), and based on the novel Black Flies by Shannon Burke. It stars Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One) and Sean Penn (Milk).

Screen Rant is excited to debut a thrilling 4-minute clip that shows how the tension teased in the Asphalt City trailer plays out in the film itself. In the clip, Sheridan’s Ollie Cross and Penn’s Gene Rutkovsky do their best to help a victim of multiple gunshot wounds. Take a look at the nail-biting clip below and get ready to watch the film when it hits theaters on March 29.

How Asphalt City Aims to Put Viewers Right In The Action

The Asphalt City poster promises a “heart-stopping” and “intense” film, and the clip above makes it easy to see where those descriptions came from. The sequence aims to put viewers right in the action, beginning with Ollie Cross finding the wounded man and ending with the man being loaded into an ambulance. Asphalt City decidedly doesn’t gloss over the process, instead immersing viewers into its world by detailing every step of the way. Audiences see everything from Ollie’s first reaction upon finding the patient to the stress of treating someone whose life is in danger.

This approach is also based in fact. Sauvaire spent over a year following paramedics in his home borough of Brooklyn, often sitting in the back of an ambulance as they drove around and did their duty. Penn and Sheridan did the same to prepare for their roles—wherever Asphalt City ranks among Sean Penn’s best movies, it can safely be said that the actor has put intense effort and time into his performance. The work is visible in Sheridan’s character in the clip above, as the actor convincingly portrays all the tension and stress one might expect a new paramedic to feel on a call.

Asphalt City also has the potential to be a more visceral watch than Tye Sheridan’s best movies, clearly aiming to give audiences a taste of the high-stakes world its characters inhabit. The clip above proves this through its strong performances, chaotic soundscape, and lack of music, all of which come together to create something of a true-to-life sensory overload. It’s a unique approach that can be seen in full when the film hits theaters.