Ambulance

An emergency vehicle turns on its sirens and speeds through traffic to get where it’s going quickly. Then why does Ambulance take so long to reach its destination?

It’s a rhetorical question in the latest mindless action extravaganza from veteran director Michael Bay, a lumbering cops-and-robbers saga emphasizing spectacle over substance that delivers some intermittent thrills. Yet it stumbles when it attempts to generate a deeper emotional impact.

The story focuses on a Los Angeles bank robbery and its extended aftermath. The perpetrator is Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal), a loose-cannon hothead whose auto detailing business fronts a criminal enterprise.

For the heist, he recruits his estranged adoptive brother Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen), a reluctant military veteran whose family has fallen on hard times. They net millions but botch the getaway, prompting Danny to hijack an ambulance with a feisty paramedic, Cam (Eiza Gonzalez), and a wounded police officer (Jackson White) in the back.

The ensuing parade of shootouts and high-octane chases attracts plenty of attention from law enforcement and the media, who close in. As Will develops a fickle conscience and Danny’s desperation leads to psychopathic paranoia, Cam’s ability to navigate chaos under pressure leaves her alone with the ability to determine whether everyone involved makes it through the night.

Bay (Transformers) is an accomplished craftsman, of course. The pace remains lively — it’s a showcase for some great stunt driving — but the effort to convey a rooting interest in the squabbling siblings feels forced.

The screenplay, based on a 2005 Danish film, employs multiple points of view to weave the story into the urban hustle and bustle of contemporary Los Angeles. Yet it fails to confront the moral complexities in its contrived premise. As a tribute to the resilience and courage of first responders, it feels hollow.

Slick and stylish, the film tries to crank up the urgency through swirling camerawork, frenetic cutting, and persistent shouting from Gyllenhaal, whose character always seems a half-tick away from a coronary episode.

Still, as it speeds along, the film becomes further detached from reality, never more so than when Cam and Will team up for some life-saving heart surgery at 60 miles an hour, which sounds more exciting than it plays out.

Along the way, the escapist fun is fleeting. Eventually spinning its wheels, Ambulance perhaps inevitably runs out of gas.

Rated R, 136 minutes.