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But who has thrilled audiences with his Jason Bourne movies, taken them inside the Maersk Alabama hijacking and United flight 93, effectively toes that line. In 鈥淭he Lost Bus,鈥� he and co-screenwriter have made an old-fashioned disaster movie that is captivating, frightening and startlingly moving.

plays that bus driver, Kevin, who is having a very bad day already. His dog is terminal, he鈥檚 got bills he can鈥檛 pay, he鈥檚 taking care of his elderly mother in the months after his estranged father died and he鈥檚 just had an awful fight with his teenage son (a small, but effective performance from McConaughey鈥檚 actual son Levi).

Kevin just can鈥檛 seem to catch a break and is feeling sorry for himself, dealing with his boss, annoyed calls from his ex-wife and a teenager who woke up with a bad fever. Then he starts noticing the plumes of smoke in the distance. He鈥檚 on his way to deliver medicine to his son when the call comes in over the radio: Is any bus driver in the area available to deliver 22 children to a safe location? You can feel the agony, and slight annoyance, as Kevin waits for a beat hoping in vain that someone else is available.

Greengrass and Ingelsby smartly interweave Kevin鈥檚 lousy morning with the beginnings of the fire, showing the methodology of the competent first responders attempting to manage a situation that is quickly spiraling out of control. Greengrass sustains a feeling of dread for the duration of the film, a white-knuckle experience that only gets more stressful when the children are added to the equation.

When Kevin gets to the school, he鈥檚 not in any mood to gently walk the scared kids through this situation gently, insisting that a teacher, Mary ( ) come along for the ride to handle them. Kevin is not a likely hero. He鈥檚 barely even a reluctant one. He鈥檚 simply a down-on-his-luck guy who showed up and, ultimately, did something extraordinary.

This isn鈥檛 a superhero story, however he is treated with more empathy than, say, Tom Cruise鈥檚 bad dad in 鈥淲ar of the Worlds.鈥� There is an interesting thread woven into the story about absentee dads and regret, that extends even beyond Kevin, his late father and his son.

Watching Ferrara and McConaughey drive this school bus through the flames and collapsing power cables sometimes brings 鈥淪peed鈥� to mind. Occasionally, it veers a bit too far into spectacle and you start to question just how much the action has been upped for audience excitement. Perhaps these things really did unfold as they鈥檙e presented, but at times it feels like you鈥檙e suddenly on the Universal Studio Tour.

Still, it鈥檚 impossible to take your eyes off the screen, away from the inferno and the sense of our own smallness and helplessness to 鈥渂attle it,鈥� whatever that is supposed to mean. There is certainly a version of this story, adapted from Lizzie Johnson鈥檚 novel 鈥淧aradise: One Town鈥檚 Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire,鈥� that could have focused on the firefighters. They do get a spotlight here, and the fire chief gets to say that these burns are only getting worse every year. But if you鈥檙e looking for that movie, perhaps you should turn to Joseph Kosinski鈥檚

鈥淭he Lost Bus鈥� is about a few ordinary people in an impossible situation just trying to survive. While it’s not hard to wring emotion out of an audience watching kids in peril, it also, in some ways, gets right to the very heart of the matter.

鈥淭he Lost Bus,鈥� an Apple Original Films release in select theaters Sept. 19 and streaming on Apple TV+ on Oct. 3, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for 鈥渓anguage.鈥� Running time: 129 minutes. Three stars out of four.