When I want to convey urgency I describe in general how combatants scatter in search of cover, or how they stumble and fumble if caught flat-footed, and while I'm narrating this I'm building my dice pool, often rolling before the narration is complete. I don't actually look at what I've rolled until I've finished, quickly assessing the results and appending them to the narration.
In return I get sterile descriptions like "I move to medium range and shoot at the minions"; instead of the word move I'd like go hear dash, sprint, or dive, and instead of shoot I'd prefer blast, pop one off, blaze away, or "Dance, nerfherders!" Its all very technical. I know not everyone is a writer, but action movies are these guys' bread and butter, so I'm a bit confused by the lack of actual action. If I prompt them to give a brief narration it's often just " I move to within range of my weapon"...move, not foot slide or hood slide. And when handing urgency to their agency you'd think I was asking for a soliloquy in front of an audigorium full of strangers, they lock up, and I honestly think it's because they don't want to be "wrong", like their dice results won't match up the their narratives. Almost as if I were asking them go prognosticate their pool results.
That's it, I think. They don't want to be wrong and have to backtrack, so they're "hedging their bets."
If the players are apprehensive about the dice contradicting their narrative, then they might find it easier if you roll dice first and then say "Okay, now tell me what that looks like." That said, if you really want to do it the other way around, you might get some mileage by distinguish between narrating intent and narrating outcome. If players aren't used to distinguishing between the two, then it can be jarring when they narrate their soldier kicking down the door, diving into cover, and laying down a burst of fire into the enemy...and then they roll a bunch of threat and despair and have to backtrack and say "never mind, I guess he slipped on a banana peel, hit his head on the floor, and lost consciousness." Saying "I want to enter the room, take cover, and attack" is less evocative, but it is easier to work with when the dice don't go the way you hope. And then after they roll, you ask "Alright, *how* did you enter the room, take cover, and attack?"
Sometimes having a solid structure that delegates power to the players helps them when they are reluctant to exercise some narrative authority. In Ryuutama, at the start of every combat, the players take turns adding objects to the scene that they can then leverage during the fight (this system also has the group collaborate to design the world, which is a great way to get them invested in their next destination). Mouse Guard has the concept of the Player Turn, where the GM slides back into a reactive posture as the players pursue their individual goals or subplots. When the players reach an open-ended area like a spaceport or a city where there isn't some pressing plot objective in front of them, turning to them and saying "Okay, you guys have one hour real time to do whatever your characters want. Find a way to pursue your motivation and you'll get that bonus XP," might be a way to push them to exercise some agency. Once they get used to the idea that they can make things up and actively engage with the world, then you can phase out the training wheels.