Paul Greengrass is one of the most underrated great directors that there are today. Yes, everybody who knows his work understands he’s a great director, but he’s not put in the conversation of the greatest directors working today or the last twenty-five years. That’s why he falls into the category of underrated great directors. He keeps churning out amazing film after amazing film. His last three of four are Green Zone, Captain Phillips, Jason Bourne, and News of the World. These are all exceptional movies, and arguably so is his latest The Lost Bus, an Appletv+ film.

Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey) is a struggling bus driver in California. He has issues with paying his deceased father’s medical bills, he has a dying dog, a son who doesn’t like him and an ex in Reno Nevada who is fighting with him over taking their son back to his home town of Paradise. Little does he know things are about to get a whole lot worse. Not only does he have a boss who is on his ass but he ends up getting caught up in a fire that is raging on the Ridge above his town. There are some children who need picking up at their school, and no one else can get to them. He volunteered to go get them and their teacher, Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera). The problem is what should have been a ten minute pickup, and drop-off turns out to be a fight for their very survival. The fire has expanded, and traffic is backed up out of town. This man has to use his wits and keep his poise to try and help these people who are scared for their lives.

This story is based on true events, and it depicts the Camp Fire in California from 2018, which is the largest wild fire in California history up until that point. Since then, there have been other wild fires that have raged and taken down towns outside the Los Angeles area. So this story is very fresh on people’s minds. As the film progresses, the true nature of what causes the fire comes to light, but that’s not the main issue of this movie. It’s the survival of these twenty-three children and their teacher. That’s the focal point of the story. After showing some of the struggles of this man, the viewers get to see him in action when it matters. He truly was a hero to everyone. As the saying goes, heroes aren’t made. They are born.

Matthew McConaughey has been taking some time off since the McConaughesance, a decade-long stretch of great film performances by him. He’s been going to a lot of Texas Longhorns football games as the ambassador of the team and university. In a way, he’s like a mascot. He’s got two movies out in 2025 that I can tell one is The Rivals of Amaziah King, which doesn’t have distribution, and The Lost Bus, this action packed true story of survival and overcoming tremendous odds. This is the first time McConaughey has worked with Greengrass, and it’s like he’s been working with him for decades. He seems right at home during this bus through fire, around hairpin turns and at a speed a but probably shouldn’t be going during the conditions at hand. He does it, with the help of a stunt driver, I’m sure, to ensure this story and film are as realistic as possible on screen. The two McConaughey and Greengrass are a great team.

America Ferrara isn’t usually an actress that stars or co-stars in action films based on  true events or not. She is most famous for doing sitcoms like Ugly Betty and Superstore and children’s films like the How to Train Your Dragon Franchise. Her turn in Barbie may have changed that, though. She gave an emotional performance as a struggling mother in that film. Which garnered her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. This is the first time I’ve seen her in anything since that film. She gives a grounded in reality performance as this teacher who is scared out of her mind but has to show strength for the sake of all the kids on the bus who are also scared. They want their parents, and they have no idea what is happening all around them. This woman has to nurture them and console them during this difficult time. Ferrara does a terrific job in this role.Greengrass cast the right person to play this young twenty something teacher. I can’t wait to see her do more roles like this in the future. 

With Greengrass’s experience with doing action films, he’s got a handle on doing chases and fight sequences. This movie has none of that, though. What it has is a lot of fire and fire isn’t always easy to work with. There have to be seasoned professionals dealing with such difficult conditions as this film has. The CGI and visual effects are astounding. They make the fire seem like it’s raging everywhere. In one particular scene, various fires pop up all around the bus, putting the children in grave danger. McConaughey and Ferrara have to get out of the bus and fight some of these pop-up fires with a jacket and fire extinguisher.  It was a quite harrowing scene, to say the least. This then extends into a furious race against time to get out of a very dangerous situation that they are caught in. Greengrass knows how to deal with life-threatening situations like this. He recreated the life or death scenarios in United 93 and Captain Phillips. He is great at putting the audience in the seat, literally, with those in dire circumstances. I was completely riveted while watching these people on this bus trying to fight for their lives. This is some of the best fire I’ve ever seen put to the screen. It was that realistic of a situation for me watching at home.

As always, I’m curious about the cast of any film, let alone a Paul Greengrass movie. This cast, besides the two leads, is filled with character actors you might have seen on your television screen over the years. The first I noticed that stood out to me was Ashlie Atkinson, who played Ruby the bus depo supervisor/dispatcher. She was very authoritative when it came to how she talked to the McConaughey character.This was a very realistic character as far as I was concerned. I had bosses like this over the years. It wasn’t fun for me either working for people like this.The second cast member I want to point out is Yul Vasquez, who played the chief of the firemen, Ray  Martinez. He had a big task of trying to coordinate many men and women to get them to the right locations so they could do their jobs. He also held those who were accountable for not doing the right things, which caused a lot of death and destruction. He commanded the screen when he was on it. These two were the two that stood out to me in the cast besides the lead actors.

The Lost Bus is another film based on real events that Greengrass completely made his own. He has a knack for taking true stories like this into harrowing tales of survival. That’s the best way I have to describe this movie. The fire depicted was so real. I literally felt I was involved in the film. The visual effects and CGI were immaculately shown as part of this story. They made this story feel very real. That’s what you want from a film based on real events. His expertise when it comes to this genre is second to none. Maybe Steven Spielberg has done a few better movies than this, but that’s all. The two lead actors, McConaughey and Ferrara, were exceptional along with the two supporting actors Atkinson and Vasquez I mentioned earlier. This was a survival thriller that reminded me of the late 90s when my town and surrounding areas were all on fire. I’m not joking about that. This film gave me vibes of that time in my life. It hits home for me, and I’m sure in California it’s a little too soon to be reminded of what happened earlier this year and last year. This movie captured that vibe oh so well. 

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen