Bus Driver (2016) Reviews

• You have to be pretty forgiving with this one.

  TherzThz2016-10-16

  This really isn't that bad. It looks quite cheap but after seeing the title card I can almost believe this came out in the 1970's. If there wasn't a few cell phone references in the beginning this could have taken place in 1977 or something. That really would have worked in it's favour. The plot isn't particularly new. A bus carrying a few teachers and some troubled teens crashes, and the group looks for help in a nest of drug cartel types. But wouldn't you know it? The bus driver is some sort of ex military ass kicker. It's pretty fun. There's a few nice stylistic shots, some good violent fights and some well needed nudity and some good lines. The film knows it's place and tries to tick all the boxes. The main characters are decent enough; they don't aimlessly bicker like we see in low budget horror, which is a nice change. I'd recommend this if you like low budget action from the 70's and 80's. It isn't a good movie by critical or mainstream standards. But the plot is pretty tight and the characters deal with the situation in believable and proactive ways. Which is all one can ask of any movie.

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• Poor low budget offering

  scott_dunning2016-10-16

  Acting was terrible, special effects were terrible, fight scenes were laughable. Aside from that...... This movie had an estimated budget of 1 million dollars which as you could imagine for an action movie that's not really very much. Add to this a guest appearance by Robert Forster (Jackie Brown) and the money was obviously spread very thin. There were parts of this movie which I liked including the 'time reversal' way they explained how certain things happened (which we didn't originally see), and the comedy from Steven Chase which was OK and made me snicker at times. Unfortunately the rest was hard to watch. The main star of this movie was of course the title character 'The Bus Driver' played by Steve Daron. Steve doesn't have a long list of credits to his acting career and based on his offering as bus driver Joe Smythe things aren't looking up. Everything about Steve's performance seemed forced and drawn out. Even his facial expressions were way off. I wasn't surprised to see Steve Doran also produced this movie. Some people may like this movie and it's an OK way to waste an hour and a half but if you are looking for some decent actions scenes i'd look elsewhere. Did I mention Robert Forster is in this??? That's the most confusing thing of all. Cheers

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• Decent B Budget Flick

  jackhuntermtl2016-10-17

  Best thing I can say about this film is that, unlike Suicide Squad and new Ghostbusters, I finished it without fast forwarding. Its low budget. It overuses rewind few minutes to show things from different perspective too much for my taste. Acting is notch below what I would have liked. The "pretty girl" is slightly too plain for role she got (although her breasts get a 10/10). But then film has that 80's B Budget vibe and one can easily see that people had fun making this. I've never seen any of actors in this film in anything else, which is a good thing, as when you watch actor who you know always survives, or always dies, or just generally gets typecast, that entire "new car smell" is not there. I simply expected a far below average film, yet got entertaining experience, so I am rating this above most AAA Hollywood garbage I saw this year.

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• Not great, but better than I expected

  a_chinn2017-07-02

  Scrappy, super low budget action film about a bus full of high school juvenile delinquent types on a field trip. When their bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere, they stop off at the closest farm, which ends up being a drug operation. The rest of the movie is a siege film of sorts, with the kids, their idiot gym teacher, and the heroic titular bus driver (you know, like the cook in "Under Siege") saving everyone from the drug dealers try to kill everyone in order to protect their operation. The main reason I watched this film was that Robert Forster was in it, but I again fell for the B-picture bait-and-switch and Forster was hardly in the film. Still, for a super low budget picture, director Brian Herzlinger brought a level of energy that reminded me of "El Mariachi," though this film is certainly no "El Mariachi." Still, it's better than most of it's micro budget ilk.

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• Solid B Movie

  lizduncan502017-04-13

  This is the best B movie I have ever seen! It totally embraced its B-movie-ness with excessive fake blood, numerous slow-motion shots, the gratuitous sex scene, '70s-looking credits, and over-the-top acting (LOVE the gym teacher!). I feel like what Scream was to horror movies, Bus Driver is to action movies. These people know they're making something campy, and they go for it full-throttle. I found this movie quite enjoyable and entertaining. It felt good to laugh and escape for 75 minutes!

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