The Lost Bus review by Bobby Blakey
Director Paul Greengrass already has an impressive resume with his entries into the Jason Bourne franchise, Green Zone and News of the World. His latest film The Lost Bus takes on the true story of the 2018 Camp Fire and is based on the book ‘Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire’ by Lizzie Johnson. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera, Yul Vazquez, and Ashlie Atkinson, but can it pull you into the raging inferno successfully to get you out or can it not stand the heat?
The Lost Bus follows 22 elementary school kids are stranded at their school during the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise California, the deadliest wildfire in the state's history, as their families are unable to get them before the fires spread. Now one bus driver must attempt to drive the kids and a teacher to safety as the wildfire rages around them.
Whether they are made up disasters or horrible real-life ones like this one, the natural disaster genre can bring some intense experiences when handled right. Knowing this fire made it instantly interesting but wasn’t sure how it was going to maintain the tension for its full runtime in the context of a bus with kids. Assuming there is a happy ending or that none of the kids will be in danger makes it often harder to get invested, but this film does a great job of balancing the drama and action to something that delivers exactly what you want.
The film is initially kind of slow as it is setting up McConaughey’s character and what he is dealing with in life which is the initial driving force to his actions. I found it an interesting dynamic that he wants to help these kids and the teacher and do the right thing, but also desperately wants to get back to his own family which causes friction. The same goes for Ferrera’s character, who as a teacher
wants to protect the kids and try to keep things calm and controlled, but it causes more friction and stress between them all.
This dynamic is frustrating at times but works perfectly in the bigger picture as they both start to realize the importance of working together and the ultimate survival to hopefully get them out alive. I applaud the approach of having all the kids here on the bus and an important part in the story, but also keeping them kind of secondary to the focus allowing it to be more impactful when something goes down and letting the audience stay with the two leads and the struggle they are going through to survive and save them all.
I was worried how well the action aspect would play up with a school bus but Greengrass has crafted a perfect tense filled film that offers up plenty of insane visuals and edge of your seat excitement throwing you right into the fires with them. It’s the kind of disaster film that would have served better on the biggest and loudest screen possible so kind of a bummer it went straight to Apple TV+, but in these times it also might have been forgotten about so glad it is more accessible as it deserves to be seen.
The film is entertaining and terrifying in a real sort of way, especially for anyone that might have lived through this or any fire of its kind. It doesn’t overly embellish it into some unbelievable Hollywood thing and instead keeps it in the fury of a real wildfire which is scary as it is. Filled with tension, great performances and the spotlight on real life human survival, The Lost Bus is worth checking out.
Decide for yourself and check out The Lost Bus streaming now on Apple TV+