The Lost Bus
Director ~ Paul Greengrass
Writers ~ Brad Ingelsby, Paul Greengrass, Lizzie Johnson
2025, US
Stars ~ Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera, Yul Vazquez
It’s 2018 in Paradise, California, and a horrific fire is about to decimate the city and surroundings. Based on the true story of Kevin McKay, a school bus driver who heroically must negotiated the fire to deliver 22 kids to safety.
Although an impressive enough effects showcase – drones flying through a fire convincing enough to make you think the cast must have been broiled for their efforts, even if AI/CGI – the character dilemma is so rote and cliché, the daddy issues so contrived, that even if this based on a real person, the drama never feels less than a movie construct. This surely does the real people a disservice with the film barely giving character to the kids, the very thing at stake, and skirting around lives lost. Even McKay’s apparent input doesn’t give it any grit. And you can debate that the teacher Mary Ludwig (America Ferrara) is just as much a hero.
It feels like two movies working parallel here: one is the saccharine adventure promoting one man’s heroism against unimaginable odds; the other an almost documentary-like rundown of teams trying to figure out how to respond; both directed by renowned shaky-cam expert Paul Greengrass. One benefits from straightforwardness; the other weighed down by movie melodrama, the kind that points at its own routine bid for emotional content. One feels true; one feels like entertainment TV movie of the week. It never feels like a cohesive tribute.
No comments:
Post a Comment