The Lost Bus

9/19/20252h 10m

Theatrical (limited) Release (US)

~ Inspired by a true story of survival. ~

Overview:

A determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.

Director:

Paul Greengrass

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

california
based on novel or book
based on true story
struggle for survival
single father
school bus
schoolteacher
2010s
firemen
children in danger
harrowing

Cast

Matthew McConaughey

~ as ~

Kevin McKay

America Ferrera

~ as ~

Mary Ludwig

Yul Vazquez

~ as ~

Chief Martinez

Ashlie Atkinson

~ as ~

Ruby Bishop

Kimberli Flores

~ as ~

Linda

Levi McConaughey

~ as ~

Shaun

Kay McConaughey

~ as ~

Sherry

John Messina

~ as ~

John Messina

Kate Wharton

~ as ~

Jen Kissoon

Danny McCarthy

~ as ~

Matt McKenzie

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 2 month(s) ago
6
Ok, so there’s no volcano, but otherwise this is a pretty straightforward hybrid of “Dante’s Peak” (1997) and “Speed” (1994) only here it is Matthew McConaughey who’s driving the bus. Of course, we have the usual dysfunctional family background for the recently divorced and struggling “Kevin” as he tries to reconcile with his disinterested son “Shaun” (his own real life son Levi) who has come to stay with him and his wheelchair-bound mother (his own real life mother Kay). He has been doing his school run when he espies plumes of smoke coming from the hillside above their town, a town where wind gusts of sixty miles per hour are common and where it hasn’t rained for months - so the vast expanse of forest is a tinderbox. Next thing, one of the high-altitude power lines has become disconnected and it’s sparks have started a conflagration that has soon taken hold, causing chaos and leaving a group of children stranded in their school in the path of the flames. With nobody else available, “Kevin” quite reluctantly volunteers to drive to collect them. By now, he’s guessed the dangers they are all in, and so isn’t best impressed when he meets their rather fastidious teacher “Mary” (America Ferrera) but those reservations - like just about everything else - melt away as the fires closes in around them and their journey becomes a matter of life and death. McConaughey does fine here, but the real problem is the complete lack of jeopardy throughout. Despite some crack(l)ing visual effects accompanied by some really quite effective audio, there simply isn’t any way this film is going to end with lots of sprogs being charbroiled inside a big yellow bus! Once that is settled, the rest of this is quite well paced but really nothing special. It’s based on true events and at times it does showcase some of the freneticism that ensued as the authorities fought valiantly to arrest a series of fires that were making mincemeat of all of their ground defences and grounding their air ones, too. It also spotlights the worst in human nature as looters and opportunists take advantage of the breakdown of law and order. If anything, this film does remind us of just how little mankind can be when nature gets fed up with us, and also of however devastating the damage, how readily it can rejuvenate - but that hasn’t really got much to do with the quality of the actors nor of the meekly written dialogue. It’s a compelling watch, but I suspect once will do.