McConaughey perfect match for thrilling ‘Lost Bus’
It wouldn’t be hyperbolic to declare “The Lost Bus” on fire. It brings the heat, and then some, in telling the harrowing tale of how a group of 22 elementary school students escaped a conflagrated Paradise and were led through hell by a down-on-his-luck driver ensconced in a self-made purgatory.
Setting off most of the sparks is Matthew McConaughey, the hunk behind the wheel of this sturdy, 15-ton, soot-stained transport that is the only thing standing between the children and a fiery death. With eyes a blue peering out from behind a scraggly beard, McConaughey is in full unassuming-hero mode. And we’re loving it, as he ferries us back to the halcyon days of edge-of-your-seat disaster movies.
Instead of “The Towering Inferno,” he and director Paul Greengrass present us with something more down-to-earth – a thrilling story of repentance and redemption played out in the middle of California’s most destructive wildfire. Little of it is accurate or true, but who cares when you’re on the best bus ride since “Speed.”
In that one, there was no slowing down. Here, there’s no going fast. That’s because the roads in Butte County were pretty much a parking lot, as thousands attempted to flee the fast-spreading flames. It’s pretty much every man, woman and child for themselves, as selfishness and self-preservation come to the fore.
For the film’s purposes, the only person we should be concerned about is McConaughey’s Kevin McKay, a divorcee with – nepotism alert – an invalid mother (Kay McConaughey) and a recalcitrant son (Levi McConaughey) who hates his guts almost as much as Kevin despised his late father. He’s also just one day out after saying so long to his only friend, his aged, cancer-riddled pup. But if he can just deliver these kids and their sunny teacher, Mary Ludwig (America Ferrara), to safety, all will be fine. Or, so believe he and his anxious dispatcher, Ruby Bishop (Ashlie Atkinson).
If you’re suspecting hints of broad, shameless melodrama, you’re burning up. Greengrass and his co-writer, Brad Ingelsby (the awful “Echo Valley”), generously exploit every father-son cliche in the book. But it’s a mere sideshow to the main attraction, which is the fire. And the underlying message that blazes like 2018’s deadly Camp Fire is the result of ignoring climate change for far too long.
We also get a taste of how severely these events strain the limited resources of first responders, who are overmatched by roaring walls of fire intensified by high winds and extremely dry conditions. When all was said and done, the Camp Fire leveled nearly 19,000 structures and killed 85, statistics Greengrass dutifully notes at the end of his nail-biting feature.
The focus, though, is on McKay’s drive to survive, intercut with the efforts of Cal Fire and its frustrated battalion chief, Ray Martinez (Yul Vasquez), to coordinate an exhausted army of brave firefighters in the air and on the ground. The real Martinez, you might remember, is the one who sent a shiver down the spine of TV viewers when he stepped to the mic during a press conference to declare politicians idiots for standing still and allowing these fires to get bigger and deadlier each year.
That’s about as political as this Apple TV+ entry gets. The rest is fire, fire, everywhere, presented with stunning realism by a team of special effects geniuses led by Charlie Noble. You’re so deeply immersed in it that you feel trapped right along with the 24 souls inside the smoke-filled bus, cut off from all contact with the outside world. Kudos, too, to the stunt performers, many of them allowing themselves to be set fully ablaze.
Versmilitude is nothing new to Greengrass, who’s become the go-to guy for recreations of horrific world events, be it the hijacking of jetliners (“United 93”) and cargo ships (“Captain Phillips”) or mass murder (“22 July”). Here, he raises the stakes to the nth degree, generating unease and a strong sense of impending doom. But there’s an equal amount of positivity in the heroism, not just by McKay and Ludwig – whose way of calming intensely frightened children is impressive – but by the nameless, often faceless, firefighters charging into danger.
If there’s a villain, it’s Pacific Gas & Electric, which ignored pleas to shut down its high-tension powerlines due to the extreme threat of fire on November 8, 2018. It pleaded guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter and paid a hefty fine. But that’s of little consolation to those whose lives, homes and livelihoods were reduced to ashes.
Not only is “The Lost Bus” an inspiring tribute to them, it’s also a colossal entertainment that will leave you angered as well as awed. And it’s yet another feather in McConaughey’s cap as one of his generation’s foremost matinee idols. Sure, he’s much more handsome and fit than the real Kevin McKay. But it’s that dashing quality that so well serves a movie as breathtaking, literally, as “The Lost Bus.” He commands it, leaving no doubt he and it are cerifiably el caliente.
Movie review
The Lost Bus
Rated: R for language
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera, Yul Vasquez, Ashlie Atkinson, Levi McConaughey and Kay McConaughey
Director: Paul Greengrass
Writers: Brad Ingelsby and Paul Greengrass
Runtime: 129 minutes
Where: In theaters Sept. 19 (limited) before going wider Sept. 26, and debuting on Apple TV+ on Oct. 3
Grade: B
