When you see that a movie is directed by Michael Bay, you expect to see well-made action sequences and plenty of them. The new film “Ambulance” delivers on that front, including using drones to obtain camera footage. But poorly-drawn characters and a sometimes unbelievable plot ruin this thriller.

The “la” in the word “Ambulance” is highlighted in a different color to show that the picture takes place in Los Angeles. Inside one such vehicle, we see the team of Scott (Colin Woodell) and Cam (Eiza Gonzales) responding to a car crash. Scott is on his first shift. At the scene, Cam comforts a little girl who has been impaled by a piece of metal before she is driven to the hospital.

Inside a home with military decorations, Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul Mateen II) talks to multiple insurance agents on the phone. He is trying to get them to approve an experimental surgery for his wife, which they will not do.

As he is leaving his wife and young child, she admonishes him not to go see Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal). He says that he will not and that he is going for a job interview for a forklift driver. She states that he can drive anything, which becomes prophetic later.

Of course Will is going to see Danny, who turns out to be his adopted brother. Throughout the movie we see silent scenes of two young boys enjoying themselves. Will asks Danny for a loan to pay for the surgery. Instead Danny encourages him to join his team on a bank-theft job that is well-planned and will bring in millions of dollars. For whatever reason Danny acquiesces and is handed a gun as they depart in a fake delivery truck.

Two police officers, Mark (Cedric Sanders) and Zach (Jackson White), are talking about Zach’s interest in a bank clerk. Mark does a U-turn and insists that they go to the bank so that Zach can ask her for a date.

At the bank, Zach finds the front door locked. Danny, posing as a bank official, tells Zach that the bank is closed but relents and lets him in. As Zach is asking the petrified clerk for a date, he notices that her last name is not what Danny had said. So Zach is taken hostage.

It turns out that a police task force has been waiting for these criminals to nab them upon their departure. Mark, not knowing this, sees that Zach is a hostage and alerts every police officer.

As the bank robbers try to flee, a shootout occurs in the street. Only Danny and Will, along with Zach, are able to escape into the parking garage. When Zach tries to overpower Danny, Will shoots Zach twice. They abandon Zach in a large pool of blood.

Mark finds Zach and calls for an ambulance. Cam and Scott arrive & take custody of Zach. As they are leaving, they are stopped by Danny and Will. Scott is knocked out, and Cam and Zach are taken hostage. After they elude police at a checkpoint, the chase is on.

The action sequences in this movie are first-rate. I saw a featurette about how they hired professional drone flyers to capture footage of the action. This can sometimes be vertiginous but generally adds a granular specificity to the film. The general bank shootout and one later in a gang hangout are well-staged.

It does become tiresome though to see what appears to be a never-ending car chase. Inside the ambulance, we see the hostages get threatened repeatedly and Danny and Will arguing. This also becomes old.

The L.A. police department appears to be completely incompetent. Having a police hostage on board not only limits their options but also appears to impair their judgement. So many cars crash while the ambulance goes on its merry way that you cannot suspend disbelief.

Likewise, in another coincidence, we discover that the FBI agent who eventually shows up went to college with Danny! Danny’s father was some kind of vicious crime lord. He sent Danny to learn about how the police operate so that they could evade them.

We also discover that Danny has robbed 37 banks. And he’s not in jail forever?

Spoilers prevent me from revealing the most ludicrous aspect of the film.

Character details are few and far between, as there are no back-stories developed. What we learn comes from dialogue and so you don’t care about anyone in the movie. The montage scenes of the children add absolutely nothing to the picture. They serve only to tug at the viewer’s heart-strings as we are supposed to lament the lost innocence of the two brothers.

When resolution comes, the movie never seems to end. Just as you think that the film is finally over, more of the emotionally-manipulative score directs you to yet one more vignette.

As the film runs over two hours, Bay must have been concerned about the run time. As a result, I have never seen credits fly by so fast on the screen. If only the ending had been this expeditious!

None of the acting is noteworthy. Even Gyllenhaal’s manic performance seems called in.

There is nothing to say further about the screenplay other than to wish that for once Michael Bay would hire people who could write a credible script.

The action is too intense for young children.

I heard one attendee comment that the film was the best action movie so far this year. Undoubtedly this picture will be a crowd-pleaser with its very well-produced action sequences. I don’t deny this reality, but it takes more than that to make an excellent film.

Two and a half out of five stars

Over one day across the streets of L.A., three lives will change forever.

In this breakneck thriller from director-producer Michael Bay, decorated veteran Will Sharp (Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Candyman, The Matrix Resurrections), desperate for money to cover his wife’s medical bills, asks for help from the one person he knows he shouldn’t—his adoptive brother Danny (Oscar® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, Zodiac, Spider-Man: Far From Home). A charismatic career criminal, Danny instead offers him a score: the biggest bank heist in Los Angeles history: $32 million. With his wife’s survival on the line, Will can’t say no.

But when their getaway goes spectacularly wrong, the desperate brothers hijack an ambulance with a wounded cop clinging to life and ace EMT Cam Thompson (Eiza González, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Baby Driver) onboard. In a high-speed pursuit that never stops, Will and Danny must evade a massive, city-wide law enforcement response, keep their hostages alive, and somehow try not to kill each other, all while executing the most insane escape L.A. has ever seen.

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza González
Directed by: Michael Bay
Screenplay By: Chris Fedak, based on the original story and screenplay for the 2005 Danish film Ambulancen by Laurits Munch-Petersen and Lars Andreas Pedersen
Genre: Thriller