‘Thirteen Lives’ Review: Ron Howard’s Thai Cave Rescue Drama Is One Of His More Engrossing Films

It’s almost impossible not to find the story of a young football team and their coach who found themselves trapped in a cave in northern Thailand in 2018 for 18 days utterly compelling. What unfolded at Tham Luang Nang Non—the infamous young soccer team stuck in Thai caves with rising water all around them story in 2018— became headline news around the world, and at the time, people described the events as being like something out of a Hollywood movie. As art imitates life, director Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives” is now that movie.

This is a tale of hope, desperation, the power of the human spirit, and triumph over adversity where the limited options are running out as fast as time is. The slimmest chance of avoiding the worst depends on the Thai authorities’ willingness to accept the help of a team of international outsiders, including a group of divers with a very particular set of skills.

READ MORE: ‘Thirteen Lives’ Trailer: Viggo Mortensen, Joel Edgerton, Colin Farrell & More Star In Ron Howard’s Harrowing New Film

There are certain directors and producers who you know will be a safe pair of hands when it comes to handling a story like this. The project’s success lies in the director getting the balance right when it comes to the realization and execution of the human elements as much as the more dramatic action sequences. With “Thirteen Lives,” both those jobs fall on Ron Howard.  

While Howard has directed a wide range of movies throughout his career, there is still the perception of what “a Ron Howard movie” is and what people expect. “Thirteen Lives” is absolutely a Ron Howard movie, but there is a more grounded, rawer, and more natural form of storytelling than the likes of “Apollo 13.” With “Thirteen Lives,” it feels as if, very much like the rescuers themselves, the filmmaker looked at what he needed to tell the story the best way he could and the way he wanted to and took that with him. Everything else stayed at base camp, and the film is better for it.

However, the foundations are weak without a script that can bear and carry the narrative weight sidestepping cliché and drawing engaging characters who deliver dialogue with an authentic dramatic edge. William Nicholson is no stranger to screenwriting biographical tales, with “Everest,” “Unbroken,” and “Breathe” already under his belt. The challenge here is that the story unfolding during and around the Tham Luang incident is largely logistical and technical. While you can do a lot with the various characters involved, explaining and executing that without it being either dull or playing out like something out of an action movie montage is not an easy job. However, the beats and tone of Nicholson’s script, delivered flawlessly by the cast, absolutely achieve what they need to and, at times, exceed expectations.

Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton make up the lead cast. They play British divers Richard Stanton and John Volanthen, and Dr. Richard Harris, an Australian anesthetist and cave diver drafted in to carry out a plan they see as their last option to bring as many as of those trapped out of the cave alive. The stakes are at their highest, and the world is watching. All three men give exemplary performances, utterly engaging with and genuinely affecting realism that you feel as your heart sinks and quickens as they struggle with the magnitude of the challenge they face. Each of their performances captures the literal struggles they face, physical, mental, and psychological, as they concoct and execute what appears to be a plan where the outcome is overwhelming stacked in favor of nearly insurmountable risk and almost certain death. Tom Bateman and Paul Gleeson round out the dive team as Chris Jewell and Jason Mallinson, each bringing something extra to the table to complement and enhance what the lead trio offers up.

While there is no loose link in the chain in the cast, who all deliver a mix of calm restraint and bubbling fear and frustration, it would be churlish not to give kudos to Mortensen for his mastery of a British accent. For those more attuned to such things, his perfect delivery ensures you are never once taken out of the moment by an intonation gone awry. Couple that with his accomplished performance and the entirely believable chemistry with his co-stars, and it’s as captivating as any imagery the audience is presented with.

The presentation of some of the film’s most powerful imagery, from the football team’s abandoned bikes at the mouth of the cave to the peaceful but deadly and claustrophobic conditions of the partially flooded caverns, is in the more than capable hands of acclaimed Thai cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. There is a lightness of touch and simplicity to the construction and execution of the shots. That creates a feeling of the camera being an almost ambient presence around what it is observing. The result in no way diminishes the power but what we see feels settled and natural with a degree of flow rather than rigid. Rather than a captured image, it often feels like a first-person experience. While there is an abundance of underwater sequences in confined environments, it never feels repetitive, diminishing the intensity of the situation. If you don’t catch yourself holding your breath at least once during the duration, you’re not paying enough attention.

With a film like “Thirteen Lives,” there is always a temptation to signpost moments of drama, loss, triumph, and adversity, with an overwhelming score that overpowers and drags the film into a mire of sonic tropes which do a disservice to the narrative and the audience. Composer Benjamin Wallfisch resists all of those pratfalls, delivering a present but unintrusive soundtrack. Couple this with the incredible sound design, and “Thirteen Lives” is an audio journey in itself.

The one failing here is that there are stories in the mix that feel a little underserved and detached or narratively adjacent such as the stories of the families. While important, the subplot involving the selflessness of rice farmers sacrificing their crops so they can do their bit to try and save the boys doesn’t quite gel as well as intended. Everyone has a role to play, but a handful of roles feel like they get shorter shrift than others. 

“Thirteen Lives” is not an exhibition of spectacle in scale or execution. It neither skirts over details too quickly nor goes too deep into technical aspects, arming the audience with enough to know how much is at stake and why. It’s an examination and dramatization of adversity and the complexity, strength, and resilience of the human spirit, which perfectly draws characterizations that avoid hammy tropes and tired stereotypes. Embracing a more refined and simplistic but no less engaging execution, this tale of hope, fear, service, and triumph is some of Ron Howard’s most engrossing work in quite some time. [B+]