A scene from STRIKING RESCUE. Courtesy of WellGo USA
Tony Jaa is essentially the Bruce Lee of Thailand. He’s a gifted martial artist with black belts in multiple disciplines. He does his own stunts without CGI or wires. His films have reliably delivered plenty of high-octane action with varying degrees of story significance. Jaa’s resting face seems to be one of anger, which serves him well in this hard-hitting revenge story, STRIKING RESCUE.
We see Jaa’s wife and daughter being murdered during the opening credits. The whole film consists of working his way up the criminal echelons to kill whoever did them in. It’s a classic formula that never gets old in the right hands, whether being executed by Jason Statham, Scott Adkins, Jet Li or any other martial artist with a SAG card (or its equivalent in the dozens of other countries pumping these flicks out). Along the way, he winds up protecting the daughter of a rich guy who just might be one of those responsible for his tragic loss.
Some of Jaa’s vehicles require little or no emotional range beyond justified anger about the form of evil du jour. Offhand, I can’t recall any romances, though his love for domesticated elephants is quite profound in the pair of PROTECTOR movies which, along with three ONG BAK films, propelled him to international acclaim. A long sequence in THE PROTECTOR, in which Jaa fights his way up a wide circular, multi-story stairway ranks among the most stunning in the genre. The skill required to choreograph and execute that sequence that took several months to film made me a fan. STRIKING RESCUE features more plot complexity and character delineation than usual without shorting us on his unique style of ass-kicking. Jaa’s Muay Thai uses more knee and elbow strikes than other disciplines. It ain’t pretty but it works real good.
All the types needed for one of these offerings are well-represented, including the relatively recent trend of having a hot, skilled psycho-bitch among the male-dominated enemy ranks. This one wields two hatchets, providing another bit of novelty. Jaa’s fans will be pleased, and newbies are likely to join them. That’s about all you need to know, folks.
STRIKING RESCUE, in Mandarin Chinese, Thai and some English, with English subtitles, is available for digital streaming from WellGo USA starting Tuesday, Apr. 15 and on Blu-ray on May, 13, 2025.
When a Thai boys soccer team was trapped in a cave by flash flooding in 2018, the world was riveted as divers attempted to locate and rescue the teenage boys and their coach in the flooded cave, ultimately calling in volunteers who specialized in cave diving. Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell play two of those cave divers, middle-aged hobbyists who travel from their homes in the U.K. to volunteer to help save the boys and their coach. As the days dragged on, hope faded and it seemed only a miracle could save them. THIRTEEN LIVES dramatizes that 2018 rescue mission, and demonstrates exactly how miraculous it was.
This dramatic story was told previously in the documentary THE RESCUE, and while this dramatization follows the same facts, the visceral, emotional impact of this improbably rescue is even stronger. THIRTEEN LIVES depicts the risky events in a more detailed, powerful fashion, while still sticking to the already dramatic facts, but the drama allows a deeper, more rounded human story of the people involved in this astonishing rescue.
Director Ron Howard generally sticks to the facts in this true-story based drama, with Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen starring as John Volanthen and Richard Stanton, a pair of Brits with an unusual hobby: cave diving. John and Richard, who travel from the UK to volunteer their expertise, later joined by other cave divers, including Australian doctor Richard “Harry” Harris (Joel Edgerton) in the effort to find and save the soccer team and their coach.
When the boys are trapped in the cave by early monsoon rains, the Thai government calls in the Thai Navy SEALs. While the SEALs are experts in rescue, their diving skills are honed for the open ocean and the flooded cave, with its murky water, tight passages and rushing current, proved daunting. But it is exactly the experience the cave divers had, the authorities reluctantly allow these amateurs from half a world away to have a go at it.
Bad luck and good luck both play roles in this story. The primary bad luck aspect was the unusual early arrival of the monsoon rains. After their soccer practice, the boys wanted to go a nearby cave , a “tourist” cave that they frequently visited. The cave was considered safe in June, but closed in mid-July when the monsoon rains that usually arrived. A bit of good luck was that their coach went along, even though the boys knew the cave well and planned only a short visit before a birthday party for one of the boys. A sudden and intense downpour filled the cave with water, trapping the team deep within.
A stroke of luck was that the families quickly realized the boys were missing and recognized their bicycles outside the cave entrance. Another bit of luck was that an expert cave diver who lived in the area had mapped the cave extensively, and also was aware of other cave divers who might be able to help.
When this crisis arose, many of us were as unaware of the hobby of cave diving as officials in Thailand were. At first the Thai SEALs and other Thai officials were skeptical about these foreign amateurs and barred them from entering the cave. Eventually they were persuaded to let them have a try to locate the boys and their coach – at their own risk.
The need to find and rescue the boys before the cave entirely fills with water gives the film a ticking clock urgency, and the international mix of rescuers, along with the anxious parents, sets up potential for both conflict and cooperation. Although the documentary previously told this story, this narrative film depicts the risky events – particularly the astonishing final rescue- in a more powerful fashion.
While taking us through the events of the tension-filled rescue, director Ron Howard still gives the actors room to work so they can develop the characters, which deepens the human story aspect of this rescue. Although running almost two and a half hours, the film never feels that long, as the nail-biting tension of events, the dynamics of the characters, and a brisk pace keep us full involved.
The primary focus is on the British cave divers played by Mortensen and Farrell but Joel Edgerton gets his moment, as do the other actors. Mortensen’s Richard Stanton is a flinty, plain-spoken retired firefighter who has a risky hobby but goes about it in a way to reduce risk. Colin Farrell’s John Volanthen is a more easy-going person, an IT expert who finds cave diving a relaxing escape, but who is a family man particularly moved to help save the trapped boys.
The cast is fairly large and details the multiple fronts of efforts to save these boys. While the Thai SEALs and the cave divers battled daunting conditions searching for the boys, other teams pumped water from the flooded cave and volunteers, including a hydrologist, tried to block the sink holes on the mountain above that channeled water into the cave. The film does a good job conveying this multi-pronged effort in a cinematic way, with animated maps illustrating the various points in the long, complex cave, the fourth largest in Thailand, as we see the rescuers navigating the difficult passages, spiked with stalagmites and stalactites, and filled with rushing water. Fine cinematography by … delivers gripping visuals as the story written by Don McPherson and William Nicholson keeps us in its hold.
The result is a tense, suspense-filled drama, with memorable characters crafted by a strong cast, capped by a jaw-dropped rescue, for a truly uplifting film.
THIRTEEN LIVES opens Friday, August 5, in theaters in select cities and streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
For over ninety years cinema has been catering to and exerting two of the five senses. Well mainly, since gimmicks like “Smell-O-Vision” and “Odorama”, used with the films SCENT OF A MYSTERY and POLYESTER, never really connected with the film going public. They were cards that emitted aromas when a number was scratched (after prompting by seeing the number flash on-screen). I’m guessing certain fragrances didn’t mix well with concession treats. Well before that, THE JAZZ SINGER introduced movie audiences to sound, allowing them to hear actors reciting lines rather than reading “title cards’ (along with sound effects and music). Now, instead of those cards, subtitles are run at the frame’s lower part for most foreign films (the subtitles help the “hearing impaired” watching films on home video). But how do film makers simulate the “point of view” of those “impaired’ or “challenged”? The wizards of sound mixing can manipulate the audio, sometimes turning down dialogue in the foreground as they “amp up” street noises in the background, and fading out the sound altogether (as in the recent DUNKIRK). Similar techniques can be used to show the visual senses failing, with shifting focus and fuzzy lighting. And it can keep the hero and heroine in near constant jeopardy, as the film makers attempt in the “would-be” thriller ALL I SEE IS YOU.
At the story’s start we are bombarded by images inside the mind of Gina (Blake Lively) while she’s making love to her hubby James (Jason Clarke). We soon learn that she is blind, the result of an auto accident as a teen. This accounts for the flash images of her family in a car, the sides of a tunnel, and a rapidly approaching truck, followed by flashing bits of glass and metal. Gina and her sister survived while their folks perished. James’s job has taken them to Thailand. While he works, Gina helps the neighbors (she gives guitar lessons to the pre-teen girl down the hall) and swims laps in the public pool along with her pal Karen. Aside from regaining her sight, Gina really hopes to start a family with James. There’s good news on the former front as a sight expert, Dr. Hughes (Danny Huston) tells the duo that he can restore sight in the right eye, once a cornea donor becomes available. An evening celebrating in a dance club turns tense when the couple is temporarily separated. Luckily the happy call from Hughes comes, Gina goes in for the operation, and she can see once more (she had never viewed her hubby’s face). Images are still a tad fuzzy, so Hughes prescribes a strict regimen of daily eye drops. James surprises Gina with train tickets for a return trip to their honeymoon locale of Barcelona, followed by a visit to her sister in a nearby village. Though happy, things don’t go quite right on the trip, especially when they try to “spice things up” in the sleeper car. Thankfully, Gina has a great reunion with her sister Carla (Ahna O’Reilly) and meets her brother-in-law Ramon (Miquel Fernandez) and little nephew Luca. A night on the town turns ugly (frisky locals), but a visit to the accident site helps the sisters heal. Returning to Thailand, the couple continue to be frustrated as the attempt to conceive, Then the unthinkable. Gina’s eye turns a harsh red as she begins to lose clarity in her vision. But she’s taking her drops as instructed. Did something go wrong in the operation or is someone trying to sabotage the healing process?
Perhaps in an effort to duplicate the surprise box office success of last Summer’s THE SHALLOWS, Lively is yet another damsel in distress, without the ticking clock element of a rising tide and hungry shark. She does display a real vulnerability in the early sequences as the camera mimics her gaze (like peering through a fish bowl full of chunky clam chowder) while not showing us the source of sudden loud noises. Unfortunately her Gina is far too guarded, hesitant to relate her feelings, which at times makes her a frustrating heroine. There’s an aloof air that distances her from much of the action as though she’s floating through the story. Clarke’s James is much more straightforward, every bit of unease etched in his darting eyes. His devotion to Gina often verges on the obsessive as he verbally strikes out when things don’t go as planned (especially in their “50 shades” fantasy). His motivations are murky which makes his scenes with Lively off-kilter. O’Reilly is a warm support system as the sister who shares a common trauma, while Fernandez as her hot-blooded hubby is a “wild card” whose attempts at comedy are ill-timed (why does he douse himself in blood-red paint before a bull statue before slipping on a chain-mail dress). Though he’s only in a couple of scenes, the dependable Huston exudes the proper gravitas as the stern but concerned doc.
Unfortunately the film is just as hazy and unfocused as Gina’s right eye. Director Marc Foster (MONSTER’S BALL) lets the story drift aimlessly and only lets a sense of urgency kick in during the last act. Far too much time is spent in the POV shots and the manic memory flashes scattered with little purpose over the long running time ( a twenty-minute trim might’ve helped…a bit). The couple at the story’s centered aren’t compelling enough for us to be invested in their squabbles and pettiness. And why the foreign locales? It adds a bit to Gina’s disorientation in the opening (she struggles with a language-learning app), but it seems an excuse for a “working vacay” for cast and crew. Thailand’s never another character. It’s just another problem with the script by Foster, along with Sean Conway, which is a meandering, pretentious mess (lots of floating shots of Lively…huh?). Film goers will struggle mightily to keep their eyes open (and mind engaged) with ALL I SEE IS YOU.
Universal Films is backing the Pang Brothers’ next movie, which will be a return to the horror genre with ‘The Childs Eye’. The movie will be a 3-D release, making it the first digital 3-D horror feature to hit the Asian market.
Danny and Oxide Pang are directing this project and production will begin in June, shooting in Thailand. ‘The Childs Eye’ is familiar ground for the Pang Brothers, having made the horror film ‘The Eye’ in 2002, spawning the American remake starring Jessica Alba.
‘The Childs Eye in 3D tells the story of six stranded Hong Kong travelers during the shutdown of the Bangkok airport in the November 2008 anti-government protest and their supernatural encounters after the disappearance of three in the group.
The showpiece of the film will be an underworld made up of paper replica houses, filled with paper dolls and paper cars  a city formed by all the paper-made facsimile of the real world burnt and offered to the deceased in the traditional Chinese ancestor worship ritual. The twins also will be introducing a monster in the film. — HR
‘The Childs Eye in 3D’ has a budget of about $4.5 million and the Pang brothers are excited to be working with this new 3-D technology and seeing how they can apply it to their own visual style of horror. Keep an eye out for their next film ‘The Storm Warriors‘. It’s a fantasy/martial arts comic book adaptation and it looks pretty awesome!
There’s been a rise in the Thai filmmaking industry, especially in the action movie genre. The American audience got it’s first significant wide-release taste of this new era of Thai cinema with rising action star Tony Jaa and ‘Ong Bak’. This was followed by ‘The Protector’ and now a sequel to ‘Ong Bak’ is in the works. Tony Jaa is being considered by some to be the next Jackie Chan or Jet Li. However, there is more to this increase in Thai action films than just Tony Jaa.
‘Born to Fight’ was released in 2004 and, while many have never heard of it, was widely released on DVD by Dragon Dynasty in April 2007. The story follows a young agent named Deaw who leaves the force after his partner/commander is killed during a bust. Deaw joins a group of athletes on a trip to a remote rural Thai village to deliver food and supplies and visit with the children. While visiting the village, a group of rebels loyal to an imprisoned general attacks the village and sets up camp. Their plan is to hold the villagers hostage and threaten to kill them if the government does not release the general.
The fascinating thing about ‘Born to Fight’ is that the film builds an incredible human drama as the story of the massacre unfolds. The filmmakers went out of their way to build a relationship between the villagers and the audience and does so effectively, without resorting to sappy, melodramatic techniques. We truly feel touched and care about these people. The lengthy section in the middle of the film when we get an immense dose of how the villagers live, what they’re like and who they are has the feel of a documentary recording real lives during a good will visit from a group of athletes. This sets us up in a unique way to root for those who fight against the rebels.
Despite all of the problems that were publicized about the production of ‘Ong Bak 2’, the movie has opened in Thailand and apparently is doing very, very well. Cinematical found a site that has a review of the movie, which is probably all we will get until a DVD gets released. Here is a snippit of the review:
None of it is wasted. The end result is a surprisingly coherent film, even with its labyrinthine path that encompasses Suriyothai-style palace intrigue (as well as period-costumed opulence). The narrative doubles back on itself through childhood flashbacks and, ultimately, betrayal, in a story about a young man who is all too easily swayed by the power of the dark side as he sets about to exact revenge for the deaths of his parents.
The framework allows Jaa explore many styles of martial arts. To pass his test to become bandit leader, he shows he’s the best with a Japanese sword, in kung fu and muay Thai. He singlehandedly conquers a bull elephant with his fists and makes an entire herd of pachyderms bow down to him. He gurgles a jug of wine and lays waste to the slave traders with some drunken boxing a la Jackie Chan in Drunken Master. Shirtless and bleeding, he does his best Bruce Lee impression while wielding a three-sectional staff.
If you want to read the rest of the review, head over to ThaiFilmJournal. I am pretty damn stoked to see this, and hope that someone picks up distribution to the US.
