Matthew McConaughey

America Ferrera

Yul Vazquez

Ashlie Atkinson

Kimberli Flores

Levi McConaughey

Kay McConaughey

John Messina

Kate Wharton

Danny McCarthy

Spencer Watson

Beth Bowersox

Nathan Gariety

Olivia Darling Busby

Mac Ericsson

Alexander Shimoyama

Jet James Grant

Autumn Molina

Marian Jones

Emmery Davis

Elizabeth Sophia Hsu

Audrey Pazienza

James Anderson Ford

Andrew McMaster

William Troy Ford

Kaius Eteeyan

Bennett Gariety

Mia Wagenman

Sophie Jane Frick

Evelyn Thorpe

Scire Amor

Leela Rice

Gavin Lee Galbraith

Daelynn Rayne

Kenneth Hardison

George Quintana

Porfirio Chavarria

AJ Trujillo

Diego Montoya

Sean Norman

Jason Dyer

David Broshious

Matt Bergstrand

William Lopez

Jason Finney

Freddy Martinez

Ken Lowe

Gary Kraus

Devon Wycoff

Peter Diseth

Denielle Fisher Johnson

Kristy Nelson

Brian Hill

Mo Beatty

Cesario Flores

Ginger T. Rex

Hannah Mosqueda

Christopher Hagen

Stephanie M. Jones

Justin Mann

Merritt C. Glover

Jermaine Washington

Sofia Embid

Carrie Lazar

Martin Patterson

Eb Lottimer

Henry Frost

Katy Tierney

Cheyenne Chavez

Brittany van Wyk

Sigrid Hannah Mabel

Jace Wensley

Briggs Thompson

Willie Brown

Ariana Rico

John Emory

Donald Lindsey

Tanner Tixier

Bianca M. Quintana

Sabrina Varela

Jeffery Leroy Herrera

Savannah Dierra-Nicole Parker

Ali Vaisvil

Dave E. Hunt Sr.

Dave Peña

Craig Dirgo

Frank Woods

Paul Thompson

Norma Lee

Kiyoko Goto

Lydia Bohannon

Martin Arellano

John Grabowska

Elizabeth M. Kallman

Sarah  Barker

Robert Wise

Paul Carlos

Jason Morris

Shem Hawkins

Paul Greengrass

Jamie Lee Curtis

Jason Blum

Brad Ingelsby

Lizzie Johnson

Amy Lord

Russell Goldman

Gregory Goodman

Cliff Lanning

Robin Mulcahy Fisichella

Pål Ulvik Rokseth

Francine Maisler

David Crank

James Newton Howard

Elizabeth Keenan

Dylan Goss

Melinda Sue Gordon

Stanley White Jr.

William Goldenberg

Paul Rubell

Marisa DeFranco

Oliver Tarney

Stefan Drury

Nicole Jordan-Webber

Peter Dudgeon

Mark Bridges

Emily Evans-Thirlwell

Kathy Driscoll-Mohler

Brent Morris

Dixon McPhillips

Sara Kay Sheets

Jake Dashnaw

Jeff 'JJ' Dashnaw

Carrick O'Quinn

Mark Norby

Vaia Zaganas

Daniel James Chavez

Kamryn Poole

Corey Shumate

Joy Dashnaw

Samantha Epstein

James Ryan

Keisha Tucker

Jessi Edward

Casey Adams

Marc Terrien

Travis Johnson

Nolen Putnam

Josh Kemble

Macy Devenport-Sanders

Jeremy Fitzgerald

Cassidy Vick Hice

Johnny Ives

Dan Brockett

Ernie Vigil

Chad Dashnaw

Clay James

Caitlin Ehn

Dayton Hughes

Casey Duncan

Ed Duran

Filippo Guardione

Gray Wolf Herrera

Joanne Marie

Cat Clifford

Jesse Carmichael

David Pinter

Keith Jardine

Lucas Swallow

Aidan Fisichella

André Valdez

Ben Scott

Heath Hensley

Iliana Carrillo

Glenn Love

Josh Swensen

Clayton Torres

Sterlin English

Jordan Law

Manuel Nieto

Benjamin Morgen

Tom Shaughnessy

Ryan Fitzgerald

Zack Duhame

Danny Edmo

Dylan Hice

Clint Roberts

Graham Elliott

Jade Quon

Clay M. Lilley

Nichol Kemble

Emily Newman

Ryan Ryusaki

Drama

Mystery

Thriller

The Lost Bus

Blumhouse Productions

Comet Pictures

Apple Studios

United States of America

CinemaSerf

Ok, so there’s no volcano, but otherwise this is a pretty straightforward hybrid of “Dante’s Peak” (1997) and “Speed” (1994) only here it is Matthew McConaughey who’s driving the bus. Of course, we have the usual dysfunctional family background for the recently divorced and struggling “Kevin” as he tries to reconcile with his disinterested son “Shaun” (his own real life son Levi) who has come to stay with him and his wheelchair-bound mother (his own real life mother Kay). He has been doing his school run when he espies plumes of smoke coming from the hillside above their town, a town where wind gusts of sixty miles per hour are common and where it hasn’t rained for months - so the vast expanse of forest is a tinderbox. Next thing, one of the high-altitude power lines has become disconnected and it’s sparks have started a conflagration that has soon taken hold, causing chaos and leaving a group of children stranded in their school in the path of the flames. With nobody else available, “Kevin” quite reluctantly volunteers to drive to collect them. By now, he’s guessed the dangers they are all in, and so isn’t best impressed when he meets their rather fastidious teacher “Mary” (America Ferrera) but those reservations - like just about everything else - melt away as the fires closes in around them and their journey becomes a matter of life and death. McConaughey does fine here, but the real problem is the complete lack of jeopardy throughout. Despite some crack(l)ing visual effects accompanied by some really quite effective audio, there simply isn’t any way this film is going to end with lots of sprogs being charbroiled inside a big yellow bus! Once that is settled, the rest of this is quite well paced but really nothing special. It’s based on true events and at times it does showcase some of the freneticism that ensued as the authorities fought valiantly to arrest a series of fires that were making mincemeat of all of their ground defences and grounding their air ones, too. It also spotlights the worst in human nature as looters and opportunists take advantage of the breakdown of law and order. If anything, this film does remind us of just how little mankind can be when nature gets fed up with us, and also of however devastating the damage, how readily it can rejuvenate - but that hasn’t really got much to do with the quality of the actors nor of the meekly written dialogue. It’s a compelling watch, but I suspect once will do. 