Back in 2018, the entire world watched as rescuers tried to save 12 kids and their 25 year-old coach from Tham Luang cave in Thailand. The heroic rescue is now a major motion picture, which just released its first trailer on Tuesday. The film stars Collin Farrell (After Yang), Joel Edgerton (Obi-Wan Kenobi), and Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings), and is directed by Ron Howard (Apollo 13). Thirteen Lives be released in select theaters on July 29 and on Amazon Prime on Aug. 5.
The film follows Richard Stanton (Mortensen), John Volanthen (Farrell), and Richard Harris (Edgerton), three outside experts brought in because of their knowledge of cave diving. The three work, along with many other international parties and the Thai military, to help rescue the members of the boys soccer team that got trapped in Tham Luang cave during a flash flood, which left most of the cave underwater. Because cave diving is more difficult and complex than open-ocean diving, the three have to work quickly to figure out how best to transport the kids and save as many as possible.
Thirteen Lives’ first trailer already looks like a tense and somewhat terrifying dramatization of the real-world rescue. But if you’re looking for a preview of the movie by way of the events that it’s based on, you can also watch last year’s documentary The Rescue, which follows the crew’s efforts first-hand.
