16
ON THE SCREEN
‘Thirteen Lives’ lets Thai cave rescue story unfold naturally
WHAT TO WATCH WHEN
YOU’RE STAYING HOME
AUG. 17�24
By Adam Graham
The Detroit News
Ron Howard, good ol’ Ron Howard, is
back in sturdy form with “Thirteen Lives,”
a tense, nervy procedural thriller based
on the 2018 incident in which a youth
soccer team and its coach were saved
from a fl ooded cave in Thailand while the
world watched on breathlessly from afar.
Howard’s fi lm is unfl ashy and dismiss-
es Hollywood fi reworks in its depiction
of the painstaking step-by-step process
of the high-risk mission and evacuation.
Real-life heroes don’t come with capes
or slow-motion entrances, and neither
do the brave men in Howard’s grounded,
solid telling.
A group of boys is playing soccer
one afternoon, and after practice (and
before one of their birthday parties, which
will include a SpongeBob SquarePants
birthday cake), they make a stop at the
Tham Luang Nang Non cave, in northern
Thailand’s Tham Luang–Khun Nam Nang
Non Forest Park.
It’s June 2018, and monsoon season
is still a month off . But a sudden fl ash of
unexpected rains falls quick and hard and
fl oods huge portions of the cave, trapping
the 12 boys and their coach deep inside.
Once it’s determined the boys are
missing — their bicycles are found at the
water out from inside, but it’s still pouring
in from the mountain above. Navy SEALs
are brought in to try to explore the caves
underwater, but there’s little visibility or
maneuverability inside, as strong currents
and sharp corners in the twists and turns
add to the peril of the situation. And no
one even knows if anyone inside is alive.
A team of international cave divers
arrives on the scene, including James
Volanthen (Colin Farrell) and Rick Stanton
(Viggo Mortensen). They’re faced with
opposition from local forces, including
the SEALs who don’t want outside help to
save their own.
Plus Rick is torn over his own involve-
ment in the rescue. “I don’t even like kids,”
he grouses.
But it’s James and Rick who dive
farther into the cave than anyone before
them, and who eventually discover the
boys, miraculously alive, and awaiting
rescue. But how to get them out? It takes
expert level divers to get through the
fi ve-and-a-half hour dive, and with more
rains on the way, there’s no time to lose.
Meanwhile families, authorities and teams
of volunteers are gathered outside the
cave, as the incident captures the atten-
tion of the world over a period of nearly
three weeks.
You likely remember the incident from
the news, and it’s already been the sub-
ject of several documentaries, including
2019’s “The Cave” and 2021’s “The
Rescue.” “Thirteen Lives” is a catch-all
dramatization for those who haven’t seen
the previous projects, and it’s so down
the middle that it often plays like a docu-
mentary. (Farrell and Mortensen play their
exceptionally talented divers like a couple
of average Joes.)
FORT WALLA WALLA
AIRPORT ANTIQUES &
Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures
Viggo Mortensen, left, Joel Edgerton, Tom Bateman, Colin Farrell and Thiraphat “Tui”
Sajakul portray cave divers in “Thirteen Lives.”
‘THIRTEEN LIVES’
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for some
strong language and unsettling
images)
Running time: 2:27
How to watch: Prime Video
entrance of the cave — a rescue mission
is convened. Teams attempt to pump
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