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Filmmaker Paul Greengrass has struggled to find solid creative footing after the monster successes of his Bourne movies and the real-life siege drama, <\/span>Captain Phillips<\/span><\/i>, in 2011<\/span>. It could be said that he\u2019s something of an atrocity chaser when it comes to finding the right subject matter, having made films chronicling the 9<\/span><\/sup>\u204411<\/span><\/sub> terror attacks from inside the plane (<\/span>United 93<\/span><\/span><\/i>) and about the victims of the 2011<\/span> gun massacre by Anders Behring Breivik (<\/span>22<\/span> July<\/span><\/i>). <\/span>The Lost Bus<\/span><\/i> in many ways splits the difference, removing some aspects of the moral questionability but also determined to give audiences a\u00a0sense-battering experience of what it was like to be physically entombed by the 2018<\/span> California wildfire.<\/span><\/p>\n Matthew McConaughey doesn\u2019t have to flex far as deadbeat dad and school bus driver Kevin McKay in the sleepy berg of Paradise in Butte County, California. Having recently split from his partner (due, what seems, to his own emotional negligence), he has real trouble juggling a\u00a0complex domestic life with his resentful teenage son (played by McConaughey\u2019s own son,\u00a0Levi) and incapacitated elderly mother (played by McConaughey\u2019s own mother, Kay). He\u2019s a\u00a0nice guy with issues and a\u00a0down-home manner, trying to do his best but never able to make family members or work colleagues happy.<\/span><\/p>\n Cut to a\u00a0spark on an electricity pylon igniting some grass down below which, with the help of rushing winds, spreads across a\u00a0small patch of land. There\u2019s no easy access to the spot, so when fire teams are posted out, they can\u2019t actually get close enough to deal with the initial spread. By the time they\u2019ve concocted a\u00a0plan B\u00a0and the local fire chief is calling the shots remotely and things have gotten much worse. It\u2019s not long before a\u00a0full-scale evacuation is sounded and Kevin, meanwhile, is called on for an emergency school run. He grudgingly agrees at the expense of delivering meds to his poorly son.<\/span><\/p>\n Soon he has a\u00a0bus full of nippers and America Ferrara\u2019s cool-headed teacher, Mary Ludwig in tow, but with the fire encroaching on all sides, the options are limited when it comes to escape. While Greengrass is interested in depicting how authorities respond to such an unfathomable incident, <\/span>The Lost Bus<\/span><\/i> is also calibrated as an old school disaster movie in the vein of <\/span>The Towering Inferno<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>The Poseidon Adventure<\/span><\/i>. The oppressive sound design and slick effects do add to the experiential mode, and McConaughey and Ferrara make for an appealing odd-couple pairing.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet there\u2019s something of a \u200b\u2018<\/span>so what?\u2019 aspect to the film where it all comes down to the thrill of potential escape and, eventually, a\u00a0whole lot of good luck. With this film playing as an Apple TV<\/span>+ exclusive, it\u2019s hard to imagine that many people will have a\u00a0home cinema rig that will do justice to an audio bed which so perfectly captures the incessant primal yell of a\u00a0blazing fire, and without that you\u2018re left with a\u00a0decent if hardly original eco-thriller that has too much fun tossing you into a\u00a0fiery hell to really identify and chide those who are responsible for such calamities.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nGet more Little White\u00a0Lies<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n