Thirteen Lives: Film Review

Cast: Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortensen, Joel Edgerton
Director: Ron Howard

It's hard to go past doco The Rescue for the definitive take on the Thai Tham Luang cave rescue that gripped the world in 2018.

A concisely executed docoumentary, The Rescue played enough with the tension of the operation to get 12 kids and their soccer coach out of the caves before the monsoon weather drowned them.

But, as is inevitable with great tales of survival against the odds, Hollywood will always come knocking, and with it, the creative freedom that the words "Based on actual events" bestow on such tales.

In fairness to Ron Howard, the sweeping wide nature of Thirteen Lives feels as accurate and as lived-in a retelling of events as ever you'll get - and one that's not blessed with showy Hollywood hysterics or overblown scores to set suspense and build upon tensions.

Taking a workmanlike approach (and plenty of water), Howard takes to the 18 day timeline with relative precision, setting up a story that shows the boys as human faces, not just as people awaiting their white saviours. 

From pictures of mist hanging ominously over the Tham Luang cave complex to the claustrophobia of the practicalities of the rescue, Howard has a lot to contend with, a cast of characters to deploy and a story to be told that everyone knows the conclusion of.

While the film jumps over timelines and tramples over any exploration of tensions between the divers, the authorities and the families, it centres on a rather dour Richard Stanton (Mortensen) and the slightly more optimistic John Volanthen (Farrell) who're thrust into the middle of the rescue.

With their contrasting viewpoints on the outcome of the rescue, any inherent conflict is washed away by a film that's more concerned with re-enacting events than dissecting them. It's an approach that works well for all intents and purposes but never really soars deep into gripping territory.

"That was exciting - not in a good way" one character says at one point during the rescue - and it's a feeling that you can't help but replicate as a viewer as Howard solidly but unspectacularly helms a heroic tale that's grounded in a reality rather than heightened fantasy.

Perhaps it's a case of not enough time having passed since the story itself; perhaps it's the fact that it was so widely broadcast at the time and dissected in the aftermath that Thirteen Lives feels stoic, but never showy, in its execution - and consequently, it's watchable but not entirely memorable after its occasionally claustrophobic 150 minutes.

Thirteen Lives begins streaming on Prime Video from Friday August 5.