Ron Howard's docu-drama about the 2018 Thai Cave rescue of 12 soccer kids and their coach. It's a decently well-told and very well-produced movie. The tech specs are quite good with exceptional sound design.
Screenwriter William Nicholson (working with Don MacPherson) and Howard follow a pretty straightforward path. Colin Ferrell and Viggo Mortensen similarly are fairly low key even as the two major stars in the film. Good use of graphics to show where the rescuers are helps viewers keep their bearings. Still, the filmmakers do add a bit of 'Hollywood' melodrama at points and some of the suspense seems to be - if not artificial- at least prolonged.
There has already been another feature and several documentaries made on the incident, and Howard and his team add little beyond being the best made of productions. The quite exemplary 2021 doc THE RESCUE had the good sense to understand where the story peaked and moved expeditiously to its conclusion, whereas Howard milks it for almost another full hour. It's not an obscure tale - it was literally the biggest news in the world only a couple of years ago.
THIRTEEN LIVES is an honorable effort, if a bit superfluous.
Screenwriter William Nicholson (working with Don MacPherson) and Howard follow a pretty straightforward path. Colin Ferrell and Viggo Mortensen similarly are fairly low key even as the two major stars in the film. Good use of graphics to show where the rescuers are helps viewers keep their bearings. Still, the filmmakers do add a bit of 'Hollywood' melodrama at points and some of the suspense seems to be - if not artificial- at least prolonged.
There has already been another feature and several documentaries made on the incident, and Howard and his team add little beyond being the best made of productions. The quite exemplary 2021 doc THE RESCUE had the good sense to understand where the story peaked and moved expeditiously to its conclusion, whereas Howard milks it for almost another full hour. It's not an obscure tale - it was literally the biggest news in the world only a couple of years ago.
THIRTEEN LIVES is an honorable effort, if a bit superfluous.