Thirteen Lives (2022) Prime Video Movie Review

The real story behind Amazon Prime's 13 Lives is probably widely known, but now Ron Howard is brings the chilling human drama to the screen. 13 Lives recounts the incredible true story of the tremendous global effort to rescue a Thai soccer team who became trapped in the Thom Luong cave during an unexpected rainstorm.

Faced with insurmountable odds, a team of the world's most skilled and experienced divers joined with Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to attempt a harrowing rescue of the 12 boys and their coach.

So full disclosure, while I knew about this happening to the soccer team, I didn't follow the story, so I didn't have any clue as to the outcome or the fate of the players. That meant that this played out not only as a tense drama for me, but also a nail-biting suspense thriller. The film moves quickly and efficiently into the crux of the story, where a boys soccer team in Thailand visits a cave before heading to a teammate's house for a birthday party.

A rainstorm comes, which is really the beginning of the monsoon season, and the cave system that they're at begins to flood, trapping the boys inside. This quickly becomes an emergency and then a worldwide spectacle, as people from all over the world come to Thailand to lend their aid. But also the world watches with bated breath via news reports.

Ron Howard is known for capturing human drama in very effective ways, showcasing the strength, ingenuity and resolve that people have when confronted with daunting odds. The camera work is wonderful as it puts us into the divers point of view. As the rescue divers traverse the now flooded passageways of the cave system, they encounter stalactites and slag mites, plus very tight areas that seem to be impassable.

We view what they see moving underwater, and the camera also effectively will shift viewpoints to show a diver attempting to get through some very tight squeeze. This becomes very claustrophobic and increases the anxiety of the scenes.

While there are a lot of Thai actors in this, the film focuses a lot on a group of volunteer rescue divers played by Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, Paul Gleason and Tom Bateman.

I was absolutely floored by the restraint and no-nonsense approach that both Mortensen and Farrell bring to the characters. There's not a lot of bravado or even chitchat. These guys just move into the water and when they're ready to dive, they go.

And when they come up to get their bearings or to survey an area, the dialogue and mannerisms are very minimal, giving a massive sense of realism to a pair of divers that are there for one purpose, to find and hopefully rescue the team.

We do get emotion out of them. I mean, I don't want you to think that these are just stoic people who are uninteresting to watch. I was captivated by them. And we get to see their frustrations, fears, angers and even hope come through. And all of the actors in this work to convey some palpable emotions.

The situation was hairy and daunting and then frustrating, which the cast convincingly conveys through their performances. The entire film has oppressive anxiety covering it. And as someone who didn't know the outcome of this, I was holding my breath so much of the time.

Sometimes it was because the dives were treacherous and scary and other times because the tension was so high that if I didn't hold my breath, I'd squeal as just a sort of release.

The pacing of this is patient, but it moves us through the story without getting bogged down unnecessarily. And it could get very repetitive as the divers go back and forth through the cave system. But Howard effectively keeps us engaged by varying what we see. We don't need to see them traverse the maze of stalactites every single time because that'd get boring and then even insulting.

Once that portion of the journey has been established, we only need to see footage in that area that has a new level of detail for a particular scene. And that happens throughout most of the dive sequences. While it could get boring and dull, what we get is distressing and suspenseful.

The film does a great job of also capturing what was going on around the cave in the dive. There are political ramifications to this becoming a global spectacle, but also there are families involved, many who were right outside the cave waiting to learn the fate of their sons. This is tough to watch, and the intensity and the urgency are kept at a very high level because it's the monsoon season where basically just the sky opens up and brings down an unending torrent of water.

Now through this, I love that we get to see the efforts of the government and the volunteers work together to save the boys. And not only are the divers working from the outside, but there are monster sized teams of people working outside to try and keep the water out of the mountain. And that causes just as much uneasiness and anxiety.

My shoulders were tight and a bit achy after, but I was never bored or even looking at my watch during this. Maybe my perspective would be a bit different if I had known the outcome of the story.

So if you followed in the news while it was going on, or maybe you've read about it after the fact, I could see how this might be somewhat less engaging or at least not as suspenseful. Thirteen Lives is an effective thriller that manages to instill anxiety and hope simultaneously. The camera work puts us right into the divers masks, creating claustrophobic and daunting scenarios that made me consistently hold my breath.

The acting is understated, but with a good sense of realism, showcasing reserved but emotional performances that put me into the character's mindsets. Ron Howard captivates and amazes while delivering a touching film filled with nervous optimism.

If you are unfamiliar with this story, I encourage you to not do research, but instead to see the movie first so you can enjoy the suspense and anxiety of this well-told human drama. On a scale of 1-10, I give Thirteen Lives a 9. Thanks for reading.

Images from IMDB