TL;DR – A film filled with tension from almost the opening minutes that keeps you hooked for every spark, every change in wind, and every explosion.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the AppleTV+ service that screened this film.  

The Lost Bus Review Introduction –

Today is the last day of 2025 movies catch-up before I complete my best of lists [yes, I have said this before, but I mean it this time]. I am catching up on the films of technical excellence that I want to see unfold. The first cab off the rank is a film based on a real event of a fire catching a city unprepared, which does hit a bit close to home as I look out my window at a dry forest sitting there.   

So, to set the scene, the land is parched, the grass is dead, and the trees are tinder in the town of Paradise, California, as it has been 210 days without rain. It is the sort of situation where one spark is all that is needed for tragedy. It is here that local bus driver Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey) is not having a very good time at all; he can’t catch a break anywhere. What he does not know is that today is the day that California will experience its worst wildfires in its history so far when wind damages an electricity tower and the sparks set all the grass ablaze. With wind gusting and an isolated location, there is very little anyone can do to stop it from becoming something.       

Setup

Oh, wow, does this film do a good job of setting up just how crappy Kevin’s life is, because those first ten minutes are a cavalcade of one bad swerve after another. He is a man in a difficult situation who is being pulled in every direction, and his best is barely keeping his head above water. That’s even before we get to how they bring life to the fire, which is apocalyptic and as an Australian who lives with a bushfire evacuation plan, it hits home hard. Because we have seen time and time again how quickly that can happen. You can feel the horror coming like a wave, an immutable force of nature that cannot be contained easily once it starts.   

Production

The production team of this film should be commended for the work they did to make that fire feel real. It is a combination of digital and practical work that feels so immersive that you might not be able to spot when they add real footage from fires to build the situation. Getting that combination of smoke, embers, and fire to work in a situation where you also have to keep everyone safe while filming was a technical marvel to watch, even if it was also hard to watch at times. Which means that we get some of the best particle simulations in the business today.

Emotions

There is not what one would say is a strong narrative in this film, because it really is just a survival film where everyone is just responding to the whims of the capricious fire riding the winds wherever it pleases. As you are relying less on story beats, but more on people reacting to action moments, it means that the emotional resonance of the film is more important than ever. At the centre of those emotions are the kids who are understandably freaking out about the fire, and the parents freaking out about the missing kids. It is a core emotion that cuts through every part of the film; it also cuts you to the core while watching because this is a real event that happened, and that pain makes it hurt more for some reason. It is the sort of film where you need performances from seasoned professionals like Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera to anchor everything. The emotion does almost slip into melodrama in  places, but not in a way that ruins the film, and it is balanced out with the opportunity to dunk on PG&E at every opportunity.     

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend The Lost Bus? Yes, we would recommend The Lost Bus. It is a solid survival film from start to finish. Every actor commits to the project in a way that you need, especially all the young actors who knocked it out of the park. It was tense. It was emotional. It was captivating.   

Have you watched The Lost Bus? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked The Lost Bus, we would recommend The 15:17 to Paris to you because they are both stories based on real events that understand how to build tension in the face of almost insurmountable odds.   

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Feel free to share this review on social media and check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Lost Bus
Directed by – Paul Greengrass
Screenplay by – Brad Ingelsby & Paul Greengrass
Based on – Paradise by Lizzie Johnson
Music by – James Newton Howard
Cinematography by – Pål Ulvik Rokseth
Edited by – William Goldenberg, Paul Rubell & Peter M. Dudgeon
Production/Distribution Companies – Apple Studios, Blumhouse Productions, Comet Pictures, Apple Original Movies & AppleTV+
Starring – Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera, Yul Vazquez & Ashlie Atkinson
With – Kimberli Flores, Levi McConaughey, Kay McCabe McConaughey, John Messina, Kate Wharton, Danny McCarthy, Spencer Watson, Beth Bowersox, Nathan Gariety, Olivia Darling Busby, Mac Ericson, Alexander GT Anyang, Jet James Grant, Autumn Molina, Marian Jones, Emmery Davis, Elizabeth Sophia Hsu, Audrey Pazienza, James Ford, Andrew McMaster, William Ford, Kaius Eteeyan, Bennett Gariety, Mia Wageman Sophie Jane Frick, Evelyn Thorpe, Scire Amor Montano, Leela Rice, Gavin Galberith & Daelynn Rayne Johnson
And – Jason Dyer, David Broshious, Matt Bergstrand, William Lopez, Jason Finney, Freddie Martinez & Ken Lowe
Rating – Australia: M;