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The Lost Bus has been found on Apple TV. God damn, I forgot how much I love a good disaster movie.
Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, asteroids, sudden ice ages, floods, aliens, viruses, the moon falling down, and whatever the hell 2012 was about. I love them all (apart from the moon one, that was stupid).
There’s nothing better than living vicariously through the characters caught up in these disasters and imagining how you might handle the situation if you were there.
We would all be the hero, of course. None of us would be the coward who loses his head, abandons his fellow survivors and dies for his sins. No sir.
The Lost Bus stars a smouldering, smoking hot Matthew McConaughey. Literally. You wouldn’t know it from the underwhelming title, but The Lost Bus features a fire. A big fire. A really big fire that really happened.
This one
The Lost Bus is based on true events that took place during the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California’s Butte County. School bus driver Kevin Mckay (McConaughey) is tasked with evacuating 23 school children and their teacher from the soon-to-be ironically named town of Paradise.
Fire engulfs the town and smoke blocks out the sun, turning day into night. Paradise becomes fucking Mordor as Kevin desperately tries to find a route through the chaos. Paradise lost indeed.
You think you’re having a bad day?
Movies like this only succeed if you care about the protagonist. The first act of The Lost Bus does a good job of laying the groundwork by repeatedly dumping on Kevin from a great height.
Okay, here we go. He is struggling for money. His boss doesn’t respect him and won’t give him extra shifts. His dad recently died. He has to care for his sick mom and pay her medical bills. He’s divorced and his ex-wife is going away with another man for the weekend (probably to have sex). His son is ill, hates him and wishes him dead. His dog has cancer and has to be euthanised. He has a stone in his shoe.
I lied about the stone in the shoe, but not the rest. Safe to say he’s having a bad day. But on the bright side, tomorrow is going to be even worse.
If you were being critical, you might say the plot lays it on a bit thick, but then you remember it’s a true story. Sure, there’s some dramatic licence and embellishment here and there, but most of that shit actually happened, including his dog dying.
Luckily, Kevin’s shot at redemption is just around the corner.
Speed 3
The day of the fire is stress-inducing even before the flames arrive. Kevin has to complete the school run, fuel up the bus, grab some medicine for his son, take shit from his ex-wife, take shit from his boss about being late back etc etc.
This is intercut with the unfolding disaster, as the authorities discover the extent of the fire and the degree to which they are all fucked.
Circles are drawn on paper maps in red pen with increasing urgency and circumference. It’s frantic as hell.
Before you know it, birds are fleeing en masse. If movies have taught me anything, it’s that birds flying en masse in one direction means bad things are about to happen in the other direction.
When the call goes out to the bus drivers for someone to pick up the kids, Kevin is last to respond, hoping that someone else will do it. He’s no coward though – he just wants to get his son and mom out of danger. But now he can’t. It really adds to the stakes.
America Ferrera co-stars as teacher Mary Ludwig, who joins Kevin and the children on the bus. She drives the bus at one point, and it’s like Speed has hit middle-age.
Pop quiz, hot shot. Your town’s on fire. The roads are blocked. What do you do? What do you do, Jack?
But I’m not just referring to the age of the protagonists. I’m referring to the fact that the bus is slow this time. It gets caught in traffic jams and slow-moving queues fleeing the fire. Kevin exits the bus at one point to direct traffic while Mary edges the bus forward.
I may not be selling it very well, but the action is still thrilling. The scared kids keep the stakes high, and you never know when the next blazing tongue of fire is going to burst through the trees.
Even slower bus
The third act shakes things up. If you thought a slow-moving bus was thrilling, wait until you see… stopped bus. I won’t spoil things, but the downtime allows for some characterisation before the final descent into Hell.
McConaughey is as great as you expect. Paul Greengrass directs, and his signature handheld camera style creates a realistic feel without being too shaky.
It may be a little clichéd, but in a good way, like the F1 movie. The drama feels earned. While the true events may have been Hollywoodised, I didn’t much much care because it’s done in the right way.
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