🎥🎞Movie Review🎞🎥 - THIRTEEN LIVES - Amazon Prime - PG13 - A movie directed by Ron Howard is literally a breathtaking "true to life" film about thirteen Thai soccer players who were trapped in a cave [during a pre-monsoon storm] for almost two weeks and were kept alive by remaining calm and being led by their young soccer coach who reassured them they would be saved, even though they had no food. The entire film was produced in Thailand, with a few scenes shot in England.
The movie has a semi-slow start, due to the language barrier where there is a bunch of closed captioning [which I detest], but once the movie hinted on the introductions of the characters soon to be in jeopardy, the movie got straight to the business at hand. Where I would have approached the story telling a little differently at the beginning; showing the soccer players side of seeing the waters rise around them in the caves, Howard brilliantly maneuvered the story telling to bring you to the main characters, led by Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell. Mortensen was at the top of his acting game again, but I was truly impressed by Farrell's new ability to morph into a different character, something I haven't ever seen him do in films before. Both leading characters were vulnerable to their inner fears of potential failure, but both gave each other strength through humor; something that I was exposed to during my time in the military.
Many of the supporting actors were "islanders" who had very little training in acting, but they presented their parts realistically; something that I'm sure that Howard had to work with to make presentable. The cinematography was simply, incredible. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom did a wonderful job capturing the tight quarters of diving through caves with turbulent currents, building the tension through some claustrophobic views.
As with any Howard film production, there's always a happy ending in every film he makes with a little loss to build up the climax, and this movie delivered it's punch in the plot with me sitting on the edge of the couch hoping all of the kids would all make it out alive. This being a film about true events, I am SO happy that Howard did not bend to Hollywood elitist and add a fictional female character who "stepped up" to save the day. Not one of his best films, but it's a film definitely worth watching.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [4 of 5 Stars]
