The effort to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand that captured the world’s attention in 2018 is rivetingly depicted in one of the best directorial efforts by prolific filmmaker Ron Howard.
“Thirteen Lives” — which is set for a theatrical release this week before landing on Prime Video Aug. 5 — is an engrossing dramatization of that operation, which involved Thai officials, experts and Navy SEALs, as well as thousands of volunteers from around the world, including a handful of experienced cave divers.
“Thirteen Lives” benefits from strong performances by its two leads, Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell, as two of those divers. However, their work takes a backseat to the deft storytelling hand of Howard, elevated by the work of myriad collaborators.
Perhaps none is more important to making this film work as well as it does — to feel as realistic as it does — as cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (“Call Me By Your Name”), who helps bring the diving sequences in the narrow, water-filled corridors of the Tham Luang cave network to harrowing life. Unavoidably disorienting at times, these stretches are necessarily claustrophobic, pulling the viewer into the tight spaces and the life-or-death moments that occur within them.
“Thirteen Lives” begins on June 23, when, after some soccer and before a birthday party for one of the players, the team decides to ride their bikes to Tham Luang in Northern Thailand. After they enter the cave, a downpour begins, causing locals to fear the region’s monsoon season is coming early. Soon, it is understood that the boys are trapped in the cave and will need to be rescued if they are to survive.
By the fifth day, British cave diver John Volanthen (Farrell) has been contacted, and he reaches out to one of his peers, Rick Stanton (Mortensen), who at first doesn’t think they’ll actually be needed to fly to Thailand.
“I don’t even like kids,” he quips.
Soon, though, they’re on the scene and learning how to best navigate this cave, spending hours swimming hundreds of meters. They get a little pushback from local officials on the ground, which understandably frustrates Rick, who carries bravado borne of three decades of cave diving.
The possibility that the operation ultimately will conclude with lifeless bodies being retrieved from Tham Luang becomes what feels like more of an inevitability with each passing hour. However, John and Rick find 13 very hungry but living souls deep with the cave, much to the excitement of them and the many folks outside the cave, including the boys’ parents, and the many following the ordeal on TV.
Finding them is one thing, though; getting them out safely is another. And the clock is ticking, with oxygen levels in the cave becoming a concern, the threat of more rain another.
In fact, while everyone else is celebrating, Rick is adamant the group will perish, that there is no way any of them will be able to make the long, treacherous journey back to the cave entrance without any training.
That leads him come up with a long-shot idea involving another peer, Australian diver Dr. Richard Harris (Joel Edgerton), who possesses a skill-set none of the other divers does. Whether anyone else, Harris included, will go along with it is another matter.
If you followed the story closely when it was happening as it stretched into July of that year, many of the facts presented in “Thirteen Lives” may not be new to you, but that doesn’t make this movie any less thrilling and emotionally charged.
Surely, some liberties have been taken by writer William Nicholson (“Gladiator”), who along with Don MacPherson (“The Gunman”) is credited with the story, but the film almost never feels like a piece of Hollywood invention. Sure, moments here and there probably have been concocted to maintain dramatic momentum, but they are organic enough that they should go unnoticed by many.
“Thirteen Lives” is a nice rebound for Howard, an Academy Award-winner for 2002’s “A Beautiful Mind” who most recently was behind the camera for 2020’s disappointing “Hillbilly Elegy.”
This movie reminds you of his strong based-on-a-true-story 1995 film “Apollo 13,” but the realism in “Thirteen Lives” may feel stronger if only because there’s no actor as famous as Tom Hanks on the screen.
And while both Mortensen (“The Lord of the Rings” films) and Farrell (“The Batman”) are fairly recognizable actors, they all but immediately disappear into these roles. More importantly, their subtle and steady performances help to anchor the film, which ultimately is an ensemble affair that also benefits from Edgerton (“Zero Dark Thirty”) and Tom Bateman (“Death on the Nile,”), as another diver, Chris Jewell. Bateman shines late as Chris goes through a challenging circumstance during the rescue attempt.
Of course, many Asian actors also are featured heavily in “Thirteen Lives,” so be aware subtitles are used significantly throughout the film.
Whether you see it in the theater — where the work of Michael Fentum, a sound designer whose credits include “1917,” also can be fully appreciated during the diving scenes — or at home, be sure to see it.
It is an experience impactful in all the best ways.
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‘THIRTEEN LIVES’
3.5 stars (out of 4)
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for some strong language and unsettling images)
Running time: 2:27
How to watch: In theaters Friday and on Prime Video Aug. 5.
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