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The Lost Bus

The Lost Bus

Drama · Thriller · 2025

A determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.

Movie details

The Lost Bus

“Inspired by a true story of survival.”

2025 Drama · Thriller 2h 10m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.8 / 10

51.7K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

87 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

64 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Lost Bus?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Wake in Fright

Wake in Fright

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A young schoolteacher descends into personal moral degradation after finding himself stranded in a brutal, menacing town in outback Australia.

A Dry White Season

A Dry White Season

Drama · 1989

During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.

Light It Up

Light It Up

Drama · 1999

On a winter day in a southside Queens high school, events collide and six students are suddenly in an armed standoff with the NYPD. At the school, classrooms freeze, teachers come and go, resources are scant.

Room

Room

Drama · 2015

Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.

Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy

Drama · 2018

After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.

Edge of Winter

Edge of Winter

Drama · 2016

When two brothers are stranded by a brutal winter storm with an unpredictable father they barely know, the boys begin to suspect their supposed protector may be their biggest threat.

This Boy's Life

This Boy's Life

Drama · 1993

When a son and mother move to Seattle in hopes for a better life, the mother meets a seemingly polite man. Things go south when the man turns out to be abusive, endangering their lives. As the mother struggles to maintain hope in an impossible situation, the son has plans to escape.

Bastard Out of Carolina

Bastard Out of Carolina

Drama · 1996

A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie Point

Drama · 1970

Anthropology student Daria, who's helping a property developer build a village in the Los Angeles desert, and dropout Mark, who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policeman during a student riot, accidentally encounter each other in Death Valley and soon begin an unrestrained romance.

The Road

The Road

Adventure · 2009

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones and, when the snow falls, it is gray. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Paul Greengrass

Written by

Brad Ingelsby · Paul Greengrass

Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey

Kevin McKay

America Ferrera

America Ferrera

Mary Ludwig

Yul Vazquez

Yul Vazquez

Chief Martinez

Ashlie Atkinson

Ashlie Atkinson

Ruby Bishop

Kimberli Flores

Kimberli Flores

Linda

L

Levi McConaughey

Shaun

Kay McConaughey

Kay McConaughey

Sherry

Court is in session

Put The Lost Bus on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.