Thirteen Lives

Thirteen Lives

Based on the true nail-biting mission that captivated the world. Twelve boys and the coach of a Thai soccer team explore the Tham Luang cave when an unexpected rainstorm traps them in a chamber inside the mountain. Entombed behind a maze of flooded cave tunnels, they face impossible odds. A team of world-class divers navigate through miles of dangerous cave networks to discover that finding the boys is only the beginning.

  • Released: 2022-11-16
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Drama, Thrillers
  • Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, Sukollawat Kanarot, Theerapat Sajakul, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Vithaya Pansringarm, Teeradon Supapunpinyo, Nophand Boonyai, Tom Bateman, Paul Gleeson, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Paula Garcia, Girati Sugiyama, Pasakorn Hoyhon, Tanatat Srita, Kaokuson Sorapap, Sukniran Sukcharoen, Ensai O'Haire, Thanthapthai Chanin, Achi Jinapanyo, Thanaphat Thopiata, Phitakphong Boonnet, Joe Chuensawan, Nawanut Kaeomueangsi, Thitiphat Bheganan, Neungruthai Bungngern-Wynne, Teerawat Mulvilai, Pattrakorn Tungsupakul, Shakriya Tarinyawat, Mayuree Ruanpom, Theerapat Sajakul, Thira Chutikul, Blake McFarlane, Helen Cassidy, Terdphong U-Kham, Josh Helman, Zahra Newman, Peter Knight, Chatchawai Kamonsakpitak, Thinatya Popanum, Popetorn Soonthornyanakij, Natvara Hongsuwan, Jonathan Fang, Bernard Sam, Gerwin Widjaja
  • Director: Ron Howard
 Comments
  • Luv2Spooge - 19 February 2024
    It's good one time watch
    This film is a good one time watch if you want to know the details of what happened in this incident. Other than that, it really doesn't do much than being half a documentary. The real positive side is the scenery shot of the beauty of Thailand. The rice patties with the sun and the mountain the back is shear amazing work by Ron. And even the rain, the monsoon was done extremely well.

    The rest of the film kinda dragged. I mean, there are only so much you can take watching them dive underwater before all those scenes seem repetitious. Emotionally it also didn't really drive hard as the focus seems to be more on the technobabble of the divers.

    So not really much of artistry, more like a documentary. Can be edited to be under 2 hours in my opinion.

    6/10.
  • rayhsuehfounder - 9 April 2023
    Don't worry, it's not a National Geographic documentary
    I gave it a ten out of ten, a very special score, which for me cannot be given to the best plot, which represents the reason for watching the film in the first place: to be moved. I saw this film when the city was on lockdown and now I feel I should come back and give it some feedback. Although we all knew the ending, and I knew the ending, I decided to give it a try and was surprised to find that knowing the ending didn't detract much from the charm of the film, it created enough emotion for me to feel the ups and downs while watching it, not to mention the fact that I knew the ending, which I wouldn't have dared to do if it were a fictional film and all of them survived. The sense of miracle would have been heavier, and that's what makes the cast so good.

    Although I knew they would survive, the film made me feel that their lives were in danger at any moment.
  • karenchadwick - 27 January 2023
    Thirteen Lives ~ film review
    1/26/2023

    Thirteen Lives Film review

    Why does this film matter so much to me? Not my culture, not my turf, not my problem. In June, 2018, news of some young kids lost in a cave - - or water? Where? Somewhere Thailand? Weeks later all kids alive, good.

    Then last August 4, 2022, watching Late Night with Colbert, guest Ron Howard chats up new film, Thirteen Lives - - oh, that "Thai kids in the cave" thing, so? Kids ok, so why should I care now? Well, that interview pulled me in, Howard telling how this film was much different than any he'd made, and that's a long list. Howard explained, "...every film I've ever done, there is always conflict with various elements of the production, but not this time. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, wanted to get this one right, because the truth of the real event was so powerful." Amazon prime, click click, Thirteen Lives. Hey, there's a senior discount for Prime, use it!

    Where? Tham Luang Cave, Knun Nam Nang Non Forest Park, Princess Luang Mountain, Chiang Rai Provence, Ban Chong, Thailand. Oh yes, apparently the language in northern Thailand is so different from what is spoken in southern Thailand, often the two languages are considered different languages. When Howard and staff considered making the film, they realized that if they shot the film in the "Bangkok" Thai language, that would be waaaaay wrong for the setting in northern Thailand for this film. Howard explained, "It would be like shooting a film set in New York and using all actors speaking in deep south American dialect." Oh.

    Not my normal type of film, almost a guy thing, edges into military thing, but my concern for the young kids kept me watching. OMG. Then worse, OMG. Worse. OMG. If anything could go wrong, it did. Repeatedly. Life and death right here. Then what? OMG.

    I've watched the film easily 100 times, it never gets boring, never disappoints. I've also watched many interviews, news clips, documentaries, followed threads to learn more about those strange dive guys, sure hope some women are among those folks, yep, British Cave Rescue Council. BCRC. With my early viewing, I was so puzzled - why don't the divers wear gloves? Duhh. Well, as I viewed many clips, Howard explains it in a Vanity Fair interview, Oh Oh Oh. Turns out, in that kind of diving, you often can't see an inch beyond your face mask, so your fingertips are essential to give you information about how to proceed. OMG.

    Kinda funny, one doc clip I found of a BCRC guy chatting up his "hobby," the interviewer asked if the BCRC folks are team players - the BCRC guy laughed loud and said "NO!" Yes, I watch actors in controlled underwater cave "sets" - - we aren't really in the real cave. Hell no. But the real guys were, and how interesting to me that two of them were brought on the film set as consultants. Howard tells a truth: when the actors were filming, actor Viggo Mortensen/Stanton told Howard the actors wanted to continue with the dive filming, "we have learned from the BCRC guys, now we need to do this to portray the events as best we can, no stunt divers, please." However, every one of them had a serious underwater panic attack, and they were in a tank, not the cave. Whew. Howard told Colbert that his crew did not tell him of the panic attacks because he would have stopped the shoot right then and proceeded with trained divers. What the BCRC folks know, and the actors learned, is that when you are underwater and can't see an inch beyond your face mask, you can get very dis-oriented and that leads to very bad outcomes. This point is made again and again in the film. Mistakes and panic and fatigue and confusion don't help survival needs. Then, well, more negatives, the equipment failures underwater. Trust your gear? Know your limit from that tank of oxygen? Remember that limit when you've been challenged with a dive that takes 12 or more hours?

    Check this: as the end creds roll, for 10 minutes or more, which I love for the classy music, there's a disclaimer posted among the other info: blah blah blah "This motion picture is based on true events, however, some of the characters, names and certain locations and events have been changed, and others have been fictionalized for dramatization purposes." Is Thirteen Lives a Hollywood dumb-down of real events? Somehow, hearing Howard's talk on Colbert, if hundreds of Thai staff and actors put their weight behind this film as it was close enough to the real deal, good enough for me.

    One of my many mysteries is from a doc put online from U. S. Military, it goes on and on and on, but within, that whoever guy claims it was US military who had the idea of the drugs. Huh? Another puzzle - - apparently U. S. Military got permission from Thai whoever to start drilling a big hole in the mountain to get the kids out! REALLY!!! They show film footage of it in progress! Really! That idea went way wrong and it was shut down within a few days.

    Meworries - - did the US military cause some of the violent rock shifts as real divers were trying to get through the cave turned water tunnel? The film gives a few of these rocks busting through the film set "cave" so glad this was included for me to grasp the seriousness of the death-defying feats of strength the real divers had to face. Did this lead to some of the deaths? Who died? Yes, two Thai Navy Seals died in or from their attempts to reach the boys, this was a harsh and very ugly event.

    I do appreciate a nod to this bad idea in the film, as actors representing Stanton and Volanthen are first discussing the event, Colin Farrell/Volanthen mentions someone is digging holes, Mortensen/Stanton is shocked and discouraged, "Holes?" Move on.

    The 'holes' was one of many bad ideas, how about this? We see in the film, lots of Thai folks trying with all effort to install flexible piping/tubing with full plan to get more oxygen to the stranded folks deep within the cave. My bad to not know those measurements, what does 2&1/2 K mean? Or is it 2&1/2k? Then elsewhere something about 2500 meters. Whatever. Deep trouble. Apparently, the tubing for oxygen was a waste of time. Desperate people do desperate things. Wiki is kind to translate the math numbers to my kind of brain.

    How interesting about the thousands of folks up on the mountain trying to divert the water! I love this element of the film, and yeah, I admit, if the local who has the best knowledge of the mountain lived next door, yeah, I'd do his dishes! Yeah, he's an actor, ok.

    Which brings me to one of the solid aspects of the film I truly appreciate, we get glimpses of many things that went waaaaaaaay wrong. Methinks probably in the real event, that list was longer. Which, really, gives authority to the miracle it was.

    Spoiler alert: The kids were drugged and pushed through death moments for over five hours. OMG. I think for hours about this: can you imagine being totally responsible for another human's life for over five hours while your own life is also at extreme danger? Stress! Anxiety! Fear! Keep in mind the divers have already been under ground and most often under water for hours (some of the cave journey required carrying diving gear over edges of rock then back in the water tunnel, etc.) before they reach the kids, then all the prep for each kid, then diver back under water with his "package" for more hours, so those divers were working 12-14 shifts, three days in a row.

    Which brings me to my new respect for the BCRC folks. They aren't part of a military, nope. They buy their own gear, fix their own gear, carry their own gear, handle their own shit. They aren't TOLD what to do, they just keep researching best equipment, best solutions to dangerous circumstances, and try to stay on top of their hobby of "sump diving." Howard says it this way, "this film celebrates volunteerism, none of the BCRC guys had to be there, but they came and moved the needle in spite of risking their own lives, what an object lesson on what a group of people can accomplish." Yes, sump diving. As we learn up close and personal, extremely different than "diving." I learned so much about this, and only respect the folks who are on top of their "hobby" all the more. No, they had never, NEVER, done anything like what we see in the film. No one had. Ever. The BCRC folks did follow each other's dives, kept up with each other, respected each other. One of the BCRC divers who did the real rescue said, "I've started to think that I was probably preparing for this Thai dive all my life." I find the following fascinating - those kids in the film? Only one, the smallest, had any acting experience, the others were totally clueless about the process. Good news - - we see a Thai actor, as one of the parents, the guy with the knit hat, well, that guy in real life has an acting studio. With him on the film set, he was a major help with the young new actors. Know this: the real kids were pre-teen and early teen boys, the coach was in his early 20s. The coach had left his Buddhist monk life in Myanmar, but I found him and the real boys filmed at a Buddhist monastery after the event, they were invited to spend a few weeks there to re-group after the world attention to their nightmare.

    Those small pieces of the film - a glimpse at a stalactite dripping water and a plastic cone as the water rises at the opening of the cave. Trouble coming.

    What a jolt to learn what scene was shot first! YIKES! Let's start really hard and see who lives! Even better, with that scene, Howard had added a Thai camera guy who came up with the idea of filming behind the kid's legs, OH! Yes!

    Gotta share this - the actor/coach did a 10 day fast to match what the real coach dealt with, whew. But no, the actor kids did not go hungry, the magic of photoshop could skinny those kids up.

    Vern Unsworth, a real guy, played by actor Lewis Fitz-Gerald, who really had skills to help in this emergency was another part of this miracle. How does a Brit live in that a.
  • lanaplavsic - 3 December 2022
    Blown. Away.
    The movie is incredible. At first i wasn't sure weather it will keep my attention but when i tell you u didn't blink after they started their mission. This was more tense than any thriller or action movie that i've ever watched simply because noone has power in this story. Everyone is fighting the same fight against the nature where nothing is 100% sure. My heart was beating so fast as if it wants to jump out of my chest. I felt like it was an event that happened on the news and i was part of the story. They really brought us into the deepest moments and the sound effect and music made it even worse and more tense that i could imagine. I caught myself praying and crying as coming mechanism for all of the tesion. I study film and i say say fog, water and cave scenes were so nicely shot, with perfect amount of lighting. Also the director of photography did a great job with showing acters emotions with close up scenes and showing disgrace of nature. Sound effects were just on point. I didn't expect to like this movie so much at first but now i can say if anyone asks me for recommendation- this is the one!
  • ibrahimnader - 7 October 2022
    Nothing more noble!! 🌷
    Nothing more valuable in life that to cherish life itself.. If Hollywood and all movie making is about this value, maybe life would've vee better.. My sincere gratitudes to all cast, stars and crew for this great work.. Very much uplifting and gorgeous.

    There are genuine stunts makers and heros around the world.. True stories NOT fake.. They deserve all respect and acknowledgement for their work and concern.. Their targets is to save lives even if risking their own.. No fake intentions or selfish interests.. Humans in their pure and ultimate form.. No boundaries and no alien agenda... Can we make more of this work to bring people together..

    Selection of the stars (the divers) can't be any better.. They are humans, sensitive and tough men.. Just loveable.. The world is very much vulnerable and not in its best shape.. Story writers.. Please.
  • ipccheng-222-870339 - 18 September 2022
    Humanity Restored
    Another masterpiece by Ron Howard. I have followed the incident closely in 2018. Honestly I felt pessimistic about the coach and the kids when it happened. But I was shocked (in a good way) to know that they were found alive. But it was tough to rescue them all. It was a miracle and humanity at its finest.

    The movie follows closely to the true incident. I have watched a few documentaries about the incident. The movie gives you a first person experience with the rescue team and in the cave. The cinematography by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom is breathtaking. So many tough decisions need to be made in a crisis like this. Many of the rescue team members did not expect such a mission in all their lives. They are just normal persons like you and me. And yet they risk their lives and reputations for someone they don't know.

    What the movie missed was Mr. Elon Musk, who offered a "submarine" for the rescue and made it a great marketing campaign. We all knew it could not help the mission. He then called a rescue diver Rick Stanton a "pedo" after the plan was rejected. Mr. Elon Musk would be a great villain in the movie (no, I am joking. He would have ruin the movie. But he is still a villain in real life).

    Saman Kunan and Beirut Pakbara. May your soul rest in peace.