Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke) attempts to outrun a generic thug in "Getaway." -- Courtesy Dark Castle

“Getaway” is basically the real life equivalent of what most people would describe as a “generic Hollywood action flick.”

Mindless destruction amid a non-stop flurry of car chases? Check. Gratuitous explosions? Check. Faceless bad guy henchmen astride motorcycles with unlimited ammunition in their machine guns that never hit the intended target? Check. A horribly miscast teenybopper actress who has no business being in a movie like this? Double check. A ridiculous plot that makes only the barest amount of sense? Check.

There’s not really a whole lot to say about “Getaway” (not to be confused with the great Steve McQueen heist flick “The Getaway” (or even the Alec Baldwin remake)) because there’s simply not much there. Ethan Hawke takes a break from being in Richard Linklater films and indie horror vehicles to star in this almost comically mindless and generic action movie.

He stars as Brent Magna, a disgraced ex-race car driver who (I guess) was also at one point a wheelman for bank robbers or something (the script only alludes to his formerly unsavory ways). When his wife is kidnapped by an anonymous man (Jon Voight, credited only as “The Voice” and doing his very best grizzled Euro-thug impression), Brent must get behind the wheel of a souped up, armored (yes, really) Shelby Mustang Super Snake and carry out an increasingly reckless series of tasks or else his wife will die. Complicating matters is a kid (Selena Gomez) who attempts to hijack her car back from Brent but who gets forced into going along for the ride instead.

The majority of the film is basically one long, extended car chase with only a couple moments of downtime. In the right hands, this could lead to a breathlessly entertaining bit of popcorn fun. But when your director is Courtney Solomon (the same man who directed 2000’s comically awful “Dungeons & Dragons”) your film is not in the right hands.

To Solomon’s credit, he goes to great pains to shoot every chase and action scene using actual cars and stunt drivers. If he used any CGI at all, I couldn’t tell and it’s commendable and even exciting to see that sort of commitment when most of our stunts these days are largely digital.

There’s some pretty crazy stuff here, especially when you realize that a good portion of the footage is captured thanks to the HD cameras tacked everywhere on the car and then shot gonzo-style as stuntmen zoom around in real traffic. There’s one bit in particular that’s pretty fantastic toward the end of the film, when Brent is drag racing versus the bad guy’s SUV and they’re weaving in and out of traffic, barreling through red lights, all in a manner that you’d swear wasn’t actually staged. It’s one long, uncut shot that really gives you the sense of speed and danger that would exist in a situation like this.

Had Courtney gone a similar route for most of the film, I’d be recommending “Getaway” just on the strength of its thrills. But considering that every other chase scene is a cacophony of hyperactive, barely intelligible editing and repetitive incidents, the whole affair mostly becomes wearisome. I love practical car crashes and chases as much as anyone, but there’s really only so many ways you can show cars flipping and crashing into other cars and Ethan Hawke furiously upshifting and have it remain the least bit interesting.

Hawke does the best he can with what he has, which is basically nothing at all. These are characters only in the strictest sense of the word thanks to the barely there script. Hawke’s a great actor (his work in “Before Midnight” is a big reason why that movie may well remain my favorite movie of the year), but even the best can’t spin gold from thin air so it seems really unfair to knock him or even Selena Gomez for not having much to do.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a movie that’s stripped down to the most essential elements, but this thing is basically just a shell wrapped around a noisy engine that can’t really even deliver the thrills expected of it. This isn’t worst movie of the year, but it’ll likely end up one of the most forgettable.

Grade: D-