My Review - Thirteen Lives
Streaming on Prime
My Rating 7/10
First I'll say if you haven't seen the splendid Documentary The Rescue which I gave a 10/10 you will I'm sure be impressed by this movie reenactment of one of the most dangerous and miraculous rescue attempts in recent history.
Ron Howard the Director has skilfully Directed his third disaster movie after Apollo13 (1995) and Everest (2015) Thirteen Lives is an account of the events surrounding the miraculous rescue of 12 teenage boys and their Soccer coach in June 2018 who were trapped deep inside the flooded Tham Luang caves in Northern Thailand .
They were eventually rescued after an ordeal that lasted 18 Days by elite cave divers Rick Stanton played by Viggo Mortensen John Volanthen played by Colin Farrell Chis Jewell played by Tom Bateman and Australian Dr Harry Harris played by Joel Edgerton plus others including the skilled Thai Navy SEAL team two who lost their lives during and after the event.
For some puzzling reason one of the Australian divers contribution is not represented in the movie ? Dr Craig Challen who shared the 2019 Australian of the year award with Harry Harris isn't mentioned for his vital role in administering the anaesthetic that allowed the divers to safely bring the boys home through the perilous caves.
However this Docudrama reenactment has been praised for its authenticity by one of the actual divers Diver Rick Stanton played by an almost unrecognisable Viggo Mortensen in the film. Of course a movie version of an amazing rescue event of this magnitude has to take some liberties to recreate the drama on the cinema screen.
That's gets me to my next question why was this feature movie only released in select Cinemas for a week before streaming this new marketing of movies really astounds me I would have preferred to see The Rescue on a Cinema Screen.
I read that stunt doubles were used at a minimum in the movie as requested by Vigo Mortensen and that Ron Howard said it made editing easier that both Vigo Mortensen and Colin Farrell had training sessions with the actual divers they were portraying Rick Stanton and John Valanthen.
What I missed in this movie depiction of these amazing events was the warmth of Spirit of the documentary the Thai culture is depicted in the movie version but for me the Spiritual aspect of this miracle rescue is only touched on .
There is a poignant moment in the Documentary sadly not included in the Screenplay by William Nicholson .
A Buddhist monk known as Maing Hpone Sayadaw from Myanmar is featured briefly but his greatest contribution to the morale and faith of the parents of the trapped Thai soccer players doesn't even get a mention?
Braving the monsoon rains to perform religious rites several days before the boys were rescued when most people had given up hope and thought that it would be a body retrieval mission instead of a rescue mission the monk told journalists " They are all still there and would be found in one or two days" he also said one diver would die trying to rescue the boys and that also happened .
In one of the most moving parts of the documentary the divers are reluctant to take the amulets blessed by the monk but the boys parents insisted that they were as vital for survival as the food and other life saving supplies .
Filmed in Queensland Australia and Thailand for obvious reasons this movie version couldn't be filmed totally on location as the caves were dry again and the monsoons were over . The amazing sets were built in an enormous airplane hangar-sized building using double Olympic-size tanks and long sections of tunnel which would be flooded with 20 feet of water.
The visibility of the divers was non existent in the blackness of the water during the actual rescue so Diver Rick Stanton while praising the film's accuracy, said that the one cinematic change was that the cave water was muddy so that viewers could see the divers in action.
The cast would practice for several hours each day to work out their movements through each passage. Each successive section was more difficult to navigate, and was built while the first one was in use for filming. The cast would film their underwater scenes then train on the next section.
I enjoyed Thirteen Lives as a dramatic film but much prefer the documentary The Rescue for its emotional impact and authenticity it had a very profound affect on me .
It demonstrated that where there is life there is hope and that miracles can still occur in this troubled world we live in.
First I'll say if you haven't seen the splendid Documentary The Rescue which I gave a 10/10 you will I'm sure be impressed by this movie reenactment of one of the most dangerous and miraculous rescue attempts in recent history.
Ron Howard the Director has skilfully Directed his third disaster movie after Apollo13 (1995) and Everest (2015) Thirteen Lives is an account of the events surrounding the miraculous rescue of 12 teenage boys and their Soccer coach in June 2018 who were trapped deep inside the flooded Tham Luang caves in Northern Thailand .
They were eventually rescued after an ordeal that lasted 18 Days by elite cave divers Rick Stanton played by Viggo Mortensen John Volanthen played by Colin Farrell Chis Jewell played by Tom Bateman and Australian Dr Harry Harris played by Joel Edgerton plus others including the skilled Thai Navy SEAL team two who lost their lives during and after the event.
For some puzzling reason one of the Australian divers contribution is not represented in the movie ? Dr Craig Challen who shared the 2019 Australian of the year award with Harry Harris isn't mentioned for his vital role in administering the anaesthetic that allowed the divers to safely bring the boys home through the perilous caves.
However this Docudrama reenactment has been praised for its authenticity by one of the actual divers Diver Rick Stanton played by an almost unrecognisable Viggo Mortensen in the film. Of course a movie version of an amazing rescue event of this magnitude has to take some liberties to recreate the drama on the cinema screen.
That's gets me to my next question why was this feature movie only released in select Cinemas for a week before streaming this new marketing of movies really astounds me I would have preferred to see The Rescue on a Cinema Screen.
I read that stunt doubles were used at a minimum in the movie as requested by Vigo Mortensen and that Ron Howard said it made editing easier that both Vigo Mortensen and Colin Farrell had training sessions with the actual divers they were portraying Rick Stanton and John Valanthen.
What I missed in this movie depiction of these amazing events was the warmth of Spirit of the documentary the Thai culture is depicted in the movie version but for me the Spiritual aspect of this miracle rescue is only touched on .
There is a poignant moment in the Documentary sadly not included in the Screenplay by William Nicholson .
A Buddhist monk known as Maing Hpone Sayadaw from Myanmar is featured briefly but his greatest contribution to the morale and faith of the parents of the trapped Thai soccer players doesn't even get a mention?
Braving the monsoon rains to perform religious rites several days before the boys were rescued when most people had given up hope and thought that it would be a body retrieval mission instead of a rescue mission the monk told journalists " They are all still there and would be found in one or two days" he also said one diver would die trying to rescue the boys and that also happened .
In one of the most moving parts of the documentary the divers are reluctant to take the amulets blessed by the monk but the boys parents insisted that they were as vital for survival as the food and other life saving supplies .
Filmed in Queensland Australia and Thailand for obvious reasons this movie version couldn't be filmed totally on location as the caves were dry again and the monsoons were over . The amazing sets were built in an enormous airplane hangar-sized building using double Olympic-size tanks and long sections of tunnel which would be flooded with 20 feet of water.
The visibility of the divers was non existent in the blackness of the water during the actual rescue so Diver Rick Stanton while praising the film's accuracy, said that the one cinematic change was that the cave water was muddy so that viewers could see the divers in action.
The cast would practice for several hours each day to work out their movements through each passage. Each successive section was more difficult to navigate, and was built while the first one was in use for filming. The cast would film their underwater scenes then train on the next section.
I enjoyed Thirteen Lives as a dramatic film but much prefer the documentary The Rescue for its emotional impact and authenticity it had a very profound affect on me .
It demonstrated that where there is life there is hope and that miracles can still occur in this troubled world we live in.