The Lost Bus

TIFF REVIEW: BY DARREN ZAKUS

September 21, 2025

4 OUT OF 5 STARS

The Lost Bus is a thrilling, anxiety-inducing ride from start to finish as director Paul Greengrass unleashes a technical masterclass and immerses audiences in the chaos and destruction of the wildfire’s path, delivering a relentlessly heart pounding retelling of California’s deadliest wildfire.

Wildfires have sadly become more common in today’s world with temperatures rising and individuals being careless, but it is a subgenre of disaster film that has not gotten lots of attention recently in Hollywood despite strong recent entries into the subgenre like Only the Brave and Those Who Wish Me Dead. Bringing a new entry to the subgenre, executive producers Jamie Lee Curtis and Jason Blum turned their attention to the true story of the 2018 California Camp Fire that became the deadliest wildfire in California history. Enlisting director Paul Greengrass, who has a strong resume of films with great technicals and bringing true stories of shocking events to life on camera, The Lost Bus captures the frenzied, destructive nature of the fire and the devastation felt by its survives in a harrowing cinematic experience that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

When your film stars Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera, you know that they are both going to be great, and The Lost Bus is no exception to that. McConaughey is steadfast as the steadfast voice of reason as Kevin McKay, the bus driver trying to get the children to safety; while Ferrera brings a warmth and compassion to the film as Mary Ludwig as she tries to comfort the school children on the bus, despite the terrifying situation both the characters in the film and the audiences find themselves plunged into. The screenplay gives their characters a background to give their storylines an emotional depth and reason for the audience to care for them before they find themselves directly in the wildfires’ destructive path, at the same time as giving glimpses into the first responder’s challenges in fighting the fires and developing the larger picture of the devastation of the forest fires. But the various subplots in the screenplay are merely filler to set the stage for the wildfire, which is the true star of the film thanks to Greengrass’s outstanding technical direction of the film.

Greengrass is no stranger to directing large action films with impressive technical aspects, having helmed The Bourne Ultimatum and Captain Phillips, and The Lost Bus follows in the large footsteps of those films. The visual effects fully create the raging and destruction force of the California wildfires on the big screen, leaving the audience lost in the blaze. Driving the entire film is its sound design, putting the audience in the middle of the chaos with the fire roaring all around them and recreating the terror faced by the real life individuals who found themselves stuck in the fire’s path. The volume levels get so loud on the movie theatre’s surround sound system (especially in the IMAX format),  that it creates a panic attack for viewers for the entirety of the film once the fire begins, guaranteeing that the film is an immersive experience. But this only enhances the experience watching The Lost Bus, ensuring that viewers are on the edge of your seat and helps to make the film’s climax hit audiences square on. With the technical prowess of Greengrass’s production, the moment the fate of the titular bus is revealed, due to the buildup due to the film’s technicals and Greengrass’s direction, there is a cathartic release that occurs that finally allows audiences to catch their breath, delivering an emotional ending that releases all the anxiety that has built up over the course of the film.

The Lost Bus is truly the definition of a theatrical experience that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible; waiting for it to stream on AppleTV+ is the biggest mistake viewers could make when it comes to this film. Though the screenplay starts off with a less engaging focus on the character’s personal struggles that never has the same gripping effect of the film’s second two acts, once the fire ignites, the film becomes a non-stop thrilling experience that will take audiences breath away. Delivering a towering technical achievement with incredibly immersive sound design and visual effects work that few directors other than Paul Greengrass could conjure up on the big screen, that when combined by great performances from Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera, The Lost Bus becomes the definition of a cinematic panic attack as the raging wildfire rages across the big screen in one of the most exhilarating cinematic experiences of the year.