Albeit the true story is interesting, and I say this having not seen Thirteen Lives, I’m just not sure there’s enough to make for a feature film and what we get with Cave Rescue was actually pretty lackluster and ultra thin on character development.
Cave Rescue
(2022)
Genre(s): Suspense, Drama
Lionsgate| PG13 – 100 min. – $21.99 | September 13, 2022
Date Published: 09/17/2022 | Author: The Movieman
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Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 2½/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: What’s it like to be trapped in a cave for 10 days? How does it feel to be part of one of the biggest rescue missions in history? When rising floodwaters trap a boy’s soccer team in a cave system in Thailand, an Irish cave diver (JIM WARNER as himself) joins the massive effort to save them. Shot at the original locations — and featuring real heroes involved in the rescue — this saga based on true events is as close as you can get to experiencing for yourself. Quick Hit Review: Cave Rescue is the third movie* to retell the incredible story, the other being the more Hollywood produced Thirteen Lives directed by Ron Howard and starring Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton. I have to watch that version so don’t know how it compares, but I have to think it was better than this. Like The 15:17 to Paris, this one uses some of the actual people involved and while I guess the acting wasn’t terrible, none of them really had any charm or on-screen charisma. So, and I only discovered while looking over director Tom Waller’s resume, that this is a re-titled (and re-edited) version of 2019’s The Cave and came out in time to take advantage of Thirteen Lives’ release. From what I can tell, this didn’t get a home video release in the United States, though Amazon’s search algorithm is wonky so I could’ve missed a DVD release. In any case, the bigger issue is, despite being a reasonable running time, the movie dragged to the point I really could not care about anybody or their wellbeing. That said, the trapped boys and their coach plays a very small part with the bulk focusing on the rescue efforts and the divers. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy and embossed slip cover. Inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Features include The Making of Cave Rescue (7:57) and the Trailer (2:16). |
VIDEO – 4/5 |
| Lionsgate releases Cave Rescue onto Blu-ray and is presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture mostly looks fine with detail on close-ups being well defined and colors coming in spurts though a fair amount is dark considering many scenes take place inside a, well, cave. |
AUDIO – 4¼/5 |
| The disc comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which was more than serviceable, dialogue comes across with good clarity and there is some modest depth for the cave scenes where you hear tripping water or off-screen characters chatter. |
OVERALL – 2½/5 |
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Albeit the true story is interesting, and I say this having not seen Thirteen Lives, I’m just not sure there’s enough to make for a feature film and what we get with Cave Rescue was actually pretty lackluster and ultra thin on character development. I’d say just watch a documentary. |