Thirteen Lives first premiered back in 2022 and stars Joel Edgerton, Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortensen, Tom Bateman and Paul Gleeson
Are you looking for a hidden gem drama that’s sure to keep you gripped from start to finish? The BBC is adding Thirteen Lives to its roster of movies, and it’s a worthy contender for your watchlist this week.
Based on an “astonishing” true story that gripped the world back in 2018, Thirteen Lives tells the story of 12 young football players and their coach, who became trapped in a cave in Chiang Rai, Thailand, for 18 days.
© Alamy Stock Photo
Colin Farrell plays John Volanthen
With limited resources and oxygen running out, an international team of expert divers carries out a high-stakes mission that verges on one “insane, unethical and illegal” idea.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13), the 2022 movie stars Joel Edgerton, Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen and proved a hit with viewers, earning a 93 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
If you love addictive real-life survival dramas like Lone Survivor, The Impossible, 127 Hours and Captain Phillips – or were captivated by the documentary The Rescue – then Thirteen Lives should be the next pick on your watchlist.
© Alamy Stock Photo
Joel Edgerton plays Dr. Richard ‘Harry’ Harris
What is Thirteen Lives about?
The movie follows the events of the real-life story, which saw the “tremendous” global effort to rescue a Thai football team who became trapped in the Tham Luang cave network during an unexpected rainstorm.
The synopsis reads: “Faced with insurmountable odds, a team of the world’s most skilled and experienced divers – uniquely able to navigate the maze of flooded, narrow cave tunnels – join with Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to attempt a harrowing rescue of the twelve boys and their coach.
© Alamy Stock Photo
Ron Howard on the set of Thirteen Lives
“With impossibly high stakes and the entire world watching, the group embarks on their most challenging dive yet, showcasing the limitlessness of the human spirit in the process.
“The film depicts how rescuers, engineers and divers tried everything in the face of outrageous odds – coming down to a moment when a group of ordinary people tried one final, extraordinary attempt to save Thirteen Lives.”
Who stars in Thirteen Lives?
The film charts the tremendous effort of the team of expert divers, who are played by Viggo Mortensen (Green Book), Colin Farrell (The Batman), Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams), Tom Bateman (Behind Her Eyes) and Paul Gleeson (The Thin Red Line).
© Alamy Stock Photo
The movie is streaming on Prime Video and will air on the BBC on Monday
Meanwhile, Teeradon Supapunpinyo (Bad Genius) plays Coach Ek, Pattrakorn Tungsupakul (Rak Nakara) plays Buahom and Sukollawat Kanarot (Charming Deception) plays Saman Kunan.
What have viewers said about Thirteen Lives?
The movie was a hit with viewers and currently holds an 85 per cent critics score and a 93 per cent audience score.
In its four-star review, The Guardian wrote: “Ron Howard’s recreation of the 2018 rescue of a Thai junior football team is an impressively claustrophobic piece of cinema,” while the Observer penned: “As scripted, documentary-style fact-based dramas go, it doesn’t get much better than this.”
© Alamy Stock Photo
Viggo Mortensen plays Rick Stanton
Meanwhile, one Rotten Tomatoes viewer said: “It’s a definite hidden gem. Rescue missions are not really my thing, but this movie was great in all aspects. I felt the hope, the despair, the joy and the relief. It felt like a true story and finding out that, in the end, it was, was also astonishing.”
Another added: “This is easily one of the best new films I’ve watched in the last decade. The accuracy and attention to detail from Ron Howard and the screenwriters was outstanding. If you aren’t inspired by this film or shed a tear when you watch all of the locals banding together and sacrificing for the good of these boys, then you aren’t human. This is truly an inspirational film that tugs at your heart.”
News
THIS ‘BRILLIANT’ RETURNING BBC COMEDY ABOUT TWO CHAOTIC TEENS IS BACK — AND FANS SAY IT’S FUNNIER THAN EVER!
Alex Murphy and Chris Walley star in the hit comedy series The Young Offenders, which returned to screens with its fifth seaso The BBC’s hit coming-of-age sitcom, The Young Offenders, returned to screens with its fifth season this month, and viewers have…
What was meant to end quietly has exploded into something far bigger, as a so-called “major win” is now being seen as more than just a legal outcome — but a moment that shattered the narrative many believed was untouchable. Insiders say the real shock didn’t come from the verdict itself, but from an unscripted 10-second statement delivered outside the doors that instantly spread online before anyone could contain it. Now, as the footage circulates and reactions pour in, the impact is growing by the minute — and so is the controversy.
Britain is once again at the center of a growing political storm, as tensions surrounding identity, governance, and public trust erupt into a nationwide debate unlike anything seen in recent years. What began as a localized political controversy has rapidly…
CROCODILE ATTACK TURNS CAMPING TRIP INTO NIGHTMARE — VICTIM LEFT FIGHTING FOR LIFE…CROCODILE ATTACK TURNS CAMPING TRIP INTO NIGHTMARE — VICTIM LEFT FIGHTING FOR LIFE…
It is the second terrifying attack in the region in five months. Dismembered saltwater crocodile found dumped in Adelaide’s northern suburbs A young man has been flown to hospital after being mauled by a “large crocodile” at a remote camping…
THE REAL REASON BEHIND THE TRAGEDY — WHAT POLICE NOW BELIEVE SPARKED THE LOUISIANA SH00TING…
Shreveport police said on Monday that they were working to determine why a man shot and killed seven of his children and an eighth child the day before, but said the eruption of violence appeared to be part of an ongoing domestic dispute….
CHILLING DETAILS EMERGE — US SINGER D4VD charged with m-ur-d-er and se-x-ual a:-u-s-e of 14-year-old girl Celeste Rivas Hernandez The decomposed remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez were discovered in the singer’s abandoned Tesla…
The decomposed remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez were discovered in the singer’s abandoned Tesla. US singer D4vd has been charged with the murder of a 14-year-old girl whose decomposed remains were found in his car last year. The 21-year-old singer,…
My heart is just taken aback,” Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith told reporters. “I just cannot begin to imagine how such an event can occur.”
The suspect, who was the father of seven of the children, was killed after a vehicle chase, police said. The slain children were 3 to 11 years old, authorities said. SHREVEPORT, La. — A man in Louisiana killed eight children…
End of content
No more pages to load
