Time: 130 Minutes
Age Rating: M
Cast:
Matthew McConaughey as Kevin McKay
America Ferrera as Mary Ludwig
Yul Vazquez as Ray Martinez
Ashlie Atkinson as Ruby Bishop
Kate Wharton as Jen Kissoon
Director: Paul Greengrass

The first I heard about The Lost Bus is when it was nominated at the most recent Oscars for Best Visual Effects. That’s particularly surprising considering it’s Paul Greengrass’s latest and stars Matthew McConaughey. I gave it a watch and overall, I thought it was pretty good.

As it turns out, The Lost Bus is actually based on a true story of a bus driver saving children during the 2018 California wildfires. It’s a decent survival disaster story, and it certainly captures and conveys the real scope of the fire. You can definitely tell that some aspects are exaggerated including some of the big dramatic moments in which Matthew McConaughey is doing risky driving while flames are seconds away from consuming the bus, but that’s to be expected. The Lost Bus is around 2 hours and 10 minutes in length and I don’t think it needed to be that long. The first half takes a bit to get going, even though I know why there’s a lot of build up. It makes attempts at familial drama and personal backstories and I know why some of it is there (mainly for McConaughey) but most of it just doesn’t hit the way it’s attempting to. There’s a subplot about firefighters and other people trying to coordinate the firefighting and rescues. I understand its inclusion and it certainly does show the absolute scale of this raging fire. But it’s not as interesting as McConaughey and the bus of kids and really tightening the focus to just the bus might’ve benefitted the film.

Matthew McConaughey delivers a great performance and is believable in the lead role, and America Ferrera is also quite good. Both of them definitely elevated and sold a lot of the drama and tension.

The direction from Paul Greengrass is very strong and adds a lot of intensity. The visual effects were the nominated aspect of this whole film. and you can certainly see the work on display here. The mixture of CGI and practical effects for the fire makes The Lost Bus a visual effects showcase. That, and the really solid cinematography and great sound design make for an immersive and visceral experience.

The Lost Bus is narratively above average and overlong, but nonetheless tense, well directed, and with impressive visual effects and a great performance from Matthew McConaughey.