Asphalt City

Play trailer

2:24

Asphalt City

R

2024

2h 5m

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

46%

Tomatometer

54 Reviews

55%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Verified Ratings

Asphalt City follows Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan), a young paramedic assigned to the NYC night shift with an uncompromising and seasoned partner Gene Rutkovsky (Sean Penn). The dark nights reveal a city in crisis; Rutkovsky guides Cross, as each 911 call is often dangerous and uncertain, putting their lives on the line every day to help others. Cross soon discovers firsthand the chaos and awe of a job that careens from harrowing to heartfelt, testing his relationship with Rutkovsky and the ethical ambiguity that can be the difference between life and death.

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Critics Consensus

Asphalt City can be commended for trying to highlight the unforgiving nature of EMT work, but the unrelentingly grim end results prove a punishing watch.

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Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

Despite the director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire throwing everything at the screen, the star is frequently sublime in a brutal and unrelenting film.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 22, 2024

Full Review

Tim Cogshell

FilmWeek (LAist)

Grabs you by the throat about four or five times, but then you got all that other space, where we gotta talk about our feelings.

Apr 5, 2024

Full Review

Amy Nicholson

FilmWeek (LAist)

I found this gloomy, gloomy, gloomy, and it made me sad because I like Tye Sheridan as an actor. This movie isn't doing him any favors.

Apr 5, 2024

Full Review

Marta Medina

mundoCine

[Asphalt City] is a grueling and exhausting descent into hell aboard an ambulance, making for a fatiguing ride. [Full Review in Spanish]

Rated: 1.5/5

Aug 22, 2025

Full Review

Eulàlia Iglesias

Fotogramas

[Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire] is not able to inject the same complexity and religious sense into a story that ends up bordering on Manichean caricature.[Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3/5

Jan 17, 2025

Full Review

Emiliano Basile

EscribiendoCine

Asphalt City moves away from spiritual overtones to focus on the social and moral challenges faced by its characters. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 7/10

Dec 19, 2024

Full Review

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Brian W

Powerful film about the forgotten heroes.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

04/09/24

Full Review

Serena

I truly didn't know what paramedics go through being first responders. Made me appreciate all first responders so much more than I already do. It was a good movie but a bit depressing too.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/04/24

Full Review

Mr. Hollywood

Was promising but missed the mark. It started out promising enough but then added a storyline that was not needed. Feels like they were not happy with showing a regular EMT they had to go the movie route where someone is accused of a murder. They should have stuck with just showing the hard and easy and bad and good life EMTs have

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/04/24

Full Review

Oleksandr G

Dark, grim, but still one of the best indies released this year. Outstanding acting by main actors

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/29/24

Full Review

Mauro A

Sean Penn is outstanding, with impeccable auteur-style direction. A film that portrays the rawness of life without filters—powerful, harsh, and utterly authentic. It leaves you speechless. Films like this have become truly rare.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/20/25

Full Review

Celia H

I don’t care what anyone has to say on here. This movie is astounding. Perhaps it got poor reviews because some couldn’t stomach the harsh reality. There are some movies/shows on this site that are not reviewed correctly and this is one of them. I found this movie to be a masterpiece. I threw up at one point. As I read the bad reviews I realize they are only bad because the director successfully grabbed his viewers with the exact dread he was intending. People simply gave bad ratings because they didn’t like how they felt after it. Doesn’t that warrant an award? The coloring, the acting, the middle of the movie where we were almost living in a daze with the emts going to work seeing the most horrific and trying to acclimate in the world after. Showing us how something so altering has became the mundane and extremely tolling for those who forfeit their lives to care for others. Asphalt city does a great justice for first responders.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/16/25

Full Review

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Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire

Director

Sean Penn

Gene Rutkovsky

Tye Sheridan

Ollie Cross

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Asphalt City: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Asphalt City follows Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan), a young paramedic assigned to the NYC night shift with an uncompromising and seasoned partner Gene Rutkovsky (Sean Penn). The dark nights reveal a city in crisis; Rutkovsky guides Cross, as each 911 call is often dangerous and uncertain, putting their lives on the line every day to help others. Cross soon discovers firsthand the chaos and awe of a job that careens from harrowing to heartfelt, testing his relationship with Rutkovsky and the ethical ambiguity that can be the difference between life and death.

Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire
Producer: Warren Goz, Eric Gold, Christopher Kopp, Lucan Toh, Sean Penn, John Ira Palmer, John Wildermuth, Tye Sheridan, Tina Wang
Screenwriter: Ryan King, Ben Mac Brown
Distributor: Roadside Attractions / Vertical
Production Co: AZA Films, Force Majeure, Two & Two Pictures, Sculptor Media, Projected Picture Works
Rating: R (Graphic Nudity|Disturbing/Bloody Images|Violent Content|Pervasive Language|Sexual Content|Suicide)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 29, 2024, Limited
Box Office (Gross USA): $216.9K
Runtime: 2h 5m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Digital 2.39:1

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