By: Andrew Wing

Thirteen Lives is a 2022 American biographical survival film directed and produced by Ron Howard (Apollo 13, Solo: A Star Wars Story), from a screenplay written by William Nicholson (Gladiator, Unbroken). The film stars Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Green Book), Colin Farrell (In Bruges, The Lobster), Joel Edgerton (The Gift, The King), and Tom Bateman (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile).

The film is based on the true story of the Tham Luang cave rescue where in June and July 2018, a junior association football team of twelve members, aged eleven to sixteen, and their 25-year-old assistant coach who entered the cave on June 23 after a football practice session, were rescued from the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand.

Thirteen Lives was released in select theaters on July 29, 2022, by United Artists Releasing, and began streaming on Prime Video on August 5, 2022.

THE GOOD

While I was clearly living under a rock back in 2018 as I don’t remember ever hearing about this, I was still excited to check out this movie. One reason is the fact that I actually first learned about this amazing true story after watching the National Geographic documentary film last year by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Free Solo) which follows the Tham Luang cave rescue. And the second reason for my excitement about this film was some of the names attached. From Ron Howard in the director’s chair to two of the best actors of the 21st century in Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell, I couldn’t wait to check this out once it came to Prime Video. So without further ado, were the big names attached enough to make for a solid survival film? Keep reading to find out!

Before I begin getting into the review, I just need to first start by saying this story is truly incredible. It’s so good and it’s extremely compelling, and after watching this movie, I have no idea how everyone did what they did and saved all of those kids. But now to start the review, let’s touch on some of the big names I previously mentioned, and I’ll start with Ron Howard. Howard is a solid director who has made some pretty good movies, and while I’ll talk more about how he decided to tell this story later in the review, I commend him for just being able to pull this off. This must’ve been a rigorous shoot and just a difficult production process, but he somehow not only made a solid survival film, but he also told a story that needed to be told on the biggest screen possible so props to that.

Now onto the other big names who were responsible for the best performances we got in Thirteen Lives in Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell. Neither of these performances will land in the top five of their careers when it’s all said and done because of how their characters were written, but I still found both performances to be really good. Mortensen was great as he played this I-don’t-believe-in-luck negative nancy Richard Stanton and Farrell was equally as good as he played the more hopeful and positive John Volanthen. I don’t know what more there is to say, but these guys are good at their jobs and they made these guys look like the heroes they truly are.

Aside from them, I really liked all of the supporting performances we got in this. First, with Joel Edgerton, I am a huge fan of his and while he didn’t get a ton of screen time here as he comes in about halfway through, I still thought he did Richard Harris a great service. I also liked Tom Bateman as Chris Jewell and Paul Gleeson as Jason Mallinson, and I won’t name them all, but all of the actors who played those trapped in the cave and their family members were very good and I believed all of the emotions they were going through during what I can only imagine was an unbearable time in their lives.

Also, the cinematography was excellent here. It was completely shot on location in northern Thailand and it really gave me the sense that I was there. The movie was really at its best as we were going through the caves underwater in the murky water and I think a big reason why is simply because of how those were shot. And after doing some digging I wasn’t surprised that it was because it was done by the same guy who shot both Call Me by Your Name (2017) and Suspiria (2018), and that would be Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. All in all, the cinematography just made me feel extremely claustrophobic, which is something I already am via self-diagnosis, and it was just so well done.

In conclusion, the score from Benjamin Wallfisch here was awesome and it added to the feeling I had throughout the entire film. Maybe I’m biased too because Wallfisch actually, along with the legend Hans Zimmer, composed original scores for one of my all-time favorite films in Blade Runner 2049. Some of the other technical elements were fantastic here too, from the sound design to the underwater effects which provided an incredibly visceral experience. Lastly, I just thought this movie was fantastically well crafted.

THE BAD

One of my big problems with Thirteen Lives is just the fact that it was just told in a really straightforward way and it came across as disappointingly straightforward to be completely honest. Now it’s tough for a director like Ron Howard because while you want to make an entertaining film, you still need to stay true to the true story you’re telling, but as a viewer, I just needed more out of this. I don’t know, I’m sure the release of the documentary last year, which is a better overall film, didn’t help but nevertheless I was a little disappointed.

Continuing with the way this story was told, I really had a problem with William Nicholson’s screenplay. Now I already mentioned how I liked both Mortensen and Farrell’s performances in the lead roles, but their characters were still so thinly written and it really hurt the film overall. There was just so much more we could have got from them and it was just a shame to see such talent wasted like that.

And I’d say what makes that last critique I made more annoying is the fact that this movie was two and a half hours long. Now that’s a really long runtime, and I think it was too long, but that runtime just could’ve been used so much better if they did more with Mortensen and Farrell’s characters. Let us know more about what’s going on in their personal lives, give them a character arc, or any kind of motivation, but those in charge didn’t and it resulted in a movie that started off strong but slowly became very dull.

And to shut the door on this review, if you’re claustrophobic and watching people go through narrow tight caves underwater freaks you out, let it be stated that this movie might not be for you because there are plenty of those scenes.

THE VERDICT

Despite good performances from Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell and some amazing cinematography, Thirteen Lives is nothing more than a decently serviceable dramatization of what is a fascinating and inspiring true story.

I just wanted more from what we got from both Ron Howard’s direction and William Nicholson’s screenplay, and the film is done no favors thanks to a long runtime and a superior film, The Rescue, coming out a year prior.