Thai Cave Rescue (2022) User Reviews

Finally we get the boys' perspective!

[yzdcwhcyzs · 8/10 · 27 September 2022]

As a Thai person, I've followed this story very closely since the news first broke out and have watched every movie that's come out following the events. Though the others are also well-done, this depiction is my personal favorite solely due to the POV of the actual Wild Boars and their coach as it was the only project to have access to the real life survivors of the team who shared their firsthand experience. Production companies are understandably excited to tell the story of action and heroism, but I think it is too often forgotten in these films that the boys and their coach are also some of the main heroes in this story. Thirteen Lives and The Rescue were fantastic to learn more about the cave divers and their experience, but the story always felt very detached from the boys and gave very little to show them as actual humans and not just a package to deliver (though the little footage we see of the boys after they are found is unbeatable in The Rescue). I was always left feeling like I'd wanted to know more about what happened inside the cave with the team.

This series also included a lot more focus on the cultural nuance that was missed out in the other films which I felt were an incredibly powerful part of the story: the meditation that was key to preserving the soccer team's mind and energy and allowed them to stay alive longer without food and little water, the Buddhist faith that kept the team and their loved ones mentally strong, and showcasing the Thai values of generosity and positivity. Overall, it was a very enjoyable and heart wrenching watch. Especially knowing that it was Beam's best and final performance.

I did deduct a point for the extra dramatization that seemed rather unnecessary... I do love Yaya as an actress but her role as the water engineer was entirely falsified and inaccurate in a way that discredited the actual water team that did that work. What I really didn't understand, was why they would change the divers. Who the hell is American David Ellsworth?! That seemed pretty bad to me and I'd already hated the way they'd changed the boys' names in Thirteen Lives. Maybe it had something to do with rights or American ego but another star deduction for that.

I also understand other reviewers' issues with some of the acting but I didn't think it was too bad and was able to look past it as I know it is some of these established actors' first times acting outside of their first language and I can tell the script was written in English and then translated to Thai as some of the dialogue seemed off at times. The American actors, however, I can't say the same to lol.

Only gets better as it goes!

[acharri90 · 9/10 · 29 September 2022]

Nearly gave up halfway through the first episode but I'm so glad I kept watching. This series is brilliantly done and I found it absolutely gripping. A few cheesey actors but that's few and far between, overall it was a brilliant watch. Those saying that it was too Americanised - I have to disagree. The US played their role and I felt that the series depicted it well. I was most pleased that Dr Richard Harris got all of the attention that he deserves, he's the biggest badass we in Australia have to offer. A great watch, definitely with subtitles and not dubbed as this makes the whole thing just feel far more authentic. It's half in English anyway so there's a good mix between languages. Highly recommend.

Language recommendation...

[gregraynor · 9/10 · 2 October 2022]

This was a good alternate telling of this story compared with 13 lives. My recommendation is that you try to watch this in Thai, with the subtitles of your choice. In my experience, the English overdubs were very sub-par, and almost made me stop watching. The series isn't so dialogue heavy that reading the subtitles will be a major distraction from your ability to process it. Having done some caving in Thailand, and having lived in Asia for many monsoons, I have been reminded of the power of nature, and the consequences of bad decisions in the face of mother nature. Glad that this real-life drama had a happy ending. Kudos to all the people involved in the rescue.

Sweet, authentic, and we finally get to learn more about the boys!

[trinaboice · 10/10 · 4 October 2022]

THINGS I LIKED: I've now seen all 4 of the film versions of this story because I wanted to evaluate and compare them for my movie review channel on YouTube. I thought I'd be bored watching this because I had already seen the other movies. I was completely wrong! This series shared much more information that the other films didn't. It introduces you to more people who had a huge impact on the success of the rescue, as well as shows you all of the other methods that were tried and failed, making you understand how crucial it was that the final attempt worked.

Even though I already knew the story and what was going to happen, I got teary-eyed quite a few times.

We get to learn a lot more about the boys, their families, and what they were experiencing.

We understand better why the coach knew how to meditate and why he felt inspired to teach the boys how to do it in order to remain calm and use less oxygen in the cave.

We see relationships being built by everyone involved in the story and the sacrifices that were made in the community.

We feel the complex emotions of the parents and the legal permissions that were requested of them.

We get to travel to Thailand and experience its beautiful country and people. I was touched by their humble homes and big hearts.

It's important for American audiences to see that not all heroes were from the USA.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: If you don't want to invest 6 hours of your life in watching this story, I highly recommend you watch the Ron Howard movie 13 Lives. It offers a condensed telling in the style of big Hollywood blockbusters.

Not all of the acting is perfect but it sure was heartfelt.

The English dubbing is pretty bad.

If you watch English captions AND listen to the dubbing, you'll be frustrated by how different the translations are.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: People are in perilous situations.

Some kids show disrespect.

Spoiler: someone dies.

Talk of drowning and death.

Lazy employees are illustrated.

THEMES: Hope Family Unity Hard work Thinking outside the box The value of human life Mother Nature Heroism Miracles The power of medicine.

I loved it

[allankaaber · 9/10 · 28 September 2022]

I have watched 13 lives and this one. They are both great in different ways. You don't have to choose between them. Just watch them both and decide for yourself. In 13 lives I wanted to see more from inside the cave. Thai Cave Rescue delievers that. It also offers a wider perspective of all that was done to try and help the boys. Thats why I don't think you should compare it to 13 lives. 13 lives might be more accurate, but also a bit compressed. Think of Thai Cave Rescue as additional to the story.

This series gave me some hope for mankind during these dark times. But I am also sad the actor playing Coach Eak died in march 2022. RIP.

I appreciate having a look into the lives of those who lived through it.

[hazard111 · 9/10 · 30 September 2022]

I watched this and Thirteen Lives one after the other. They are same and yet different. Thirteen Lives' POV is outside. They follow more the rescuers mainly the scuba divers. It's more cinematic, clean but chaotic, sensational, and technical. Thai Cave Rescue's POV is private. They follow the kids, the coach, the families, the government more thus it feels raw, rough, murky, and emotional. Also one is a 2 hr other 6 hr, so fast paced vs a slow burn. Both are good either way.

They both delivered the story well, it's just a matter of perspective. I will not comment on which is more authentic as these are dramatizations. There will always be some embellishments unlike straight documentaries. If you're mainly curious on how the rescue went on then Thirteen Lives is more than enough.

But for me I prefer to see the backgrounds. For me it adds to the emotions, the humanity, not just for the entertainment factor in order to watch a marvel of a story. I appreciate watching what was the day to day activities of those who lived through the horror before they actually went through it. I also like giving focus on what the families were feeling. Like the episode that focused on Saman Kunan was a wonderful yet somber salute to him.

One other thing I prefer Thai Cave Rescue did over Thirteen Lives was the overall feel. Thirteen Lives as I mentioned was cinematic, it was better acted, you can see everything and have good different angles of clean view thus it gives a good watch but in Thai Cave Rescue it was gray and murky underwater while the outside is drenched in rain like 90% of the time. I could actually feel the heaviness and gravity of it so to me that felt more real even when paired with not so great acting.

truly inspiring and heartfelt story

[sealdean · 8/10 · 25 September 2022]

The story delivered so many lessons, a truly inspiring and heartfelt story. Those six episodes are very compelling and wonderful to watch. This Thai-language series has a strapping seriousness of its production, consisting of different foreign cast that makes the show more captivating.

"Thai Cave Rescue" is undoubtedly makes an effort to present itself as a global production that is open to a broad audience. The limited series is set up so that the situation is established fairly quickly and the remaining episodes can then focus on the issues surrounding the rescue.

You must have also time to watch this.

Not as good as 13 Lives

[bsconsulting · 7/10 · 23 September 2022]

I watched all these Netflix episodes to see what 13 Lives must have missed given it's much shorter running time. In the end I concluded - nothing really.

I felt 13 Lives got to the heart of the drama and its twists and turns very well. It built a better connection with the cave divers and their difficulties and dilemmas. It also showed how difficult technically the revue was. Whilst this version gives a lot more of the background to the boys themselves and their families I don't think it added to the enjoyment of watching what is a fascinating story. My advice is don't bother with these 6 episodes just watch 13 Lives.

Touching but Thai conversions are unnatural

[vsatayamas · 8/10 · 25 September 2022]

I watched the news about this event and thought they had died. I was glad when the team was found and rescued. People from everywhere came to help them. So the actual event is a touching story by itself.

This TV series tells the story excellently since I didn't feel bored. Every actor/actress looks professional. I genuinely believe they are government officers, soldiers, divers, etc.

I guess the script was written in English and later translated into Thai. Some Thai conversations sound unnatural. Perhaps they are as strange as my English. The talks are grammatical. However, they aren't what Thai people say. An officer mentioned Fung (burying), but most Thai people, except Abramic believers, don't bury their relative's bodies. So the officer supposes to say a perform (religious) ritual instead. Another example is that one mentioned Duem-Pun-Chi-Wid (bet his life), which is a literal translation of the idiom that came straight from Google Translate. If I didn't speak, I'd rate this series 9/10.

Glaring Inaccuracies and Omissions

[bertorecuerza · 6/10 · 3 October 2022]

As a show, I'd give it an 8, but I watched "The Rescue" on NatGeo before this and that is a documentary of what happened, told mostly from the perspective of the cave divers who did the actual rescue. Because I know what I know, I had to knock this one down. Some say we finally get to see from the kids' and coach perspective (and in other versions of this story, we legally could not as one of the parents started a trust fund to protect the kids from Hollywood vultures), but considering the inaccuracies, I don't know that we really do. **UPDATE** after watching this one, i watched "The Trapped 13" which is also on NetFlix. It is a documentary that includes the kids and the coach and others.***

You'd expect some dramatization and changing of facts, but some of this changes the story tooo much, especially when I read that Jon Chu wanted to "tell the real story" of what happened. Most notably, the cave divers "accidentally" found and rescued 4 stranded pump workers nobody knew were in the caves before finding the kids. When those 4 grown men panicked and flailed and made it difficult to be saved in a shorter stretch of a swim, it had a huge influence decision on why the main/first cave diver thought they might have to sedate the kids. And in the last id that got rescued, the merged 3 different events to make it more dramatic and changed some things around.

I also thought they did a bad job of representing the first/main/lead cave diver and made him more arrogant than he actually is. In fact, I'd say it would be better represented if they swapped both the actors and the demeanors of the guy who played the first cave diver and the guy who mapped a lot of those caves.

And RIP to those who lost their lives. Thai Navy SEAL Saman Gunan died in the rescue attempt after coming out of retirement to help. And lesser known is Beirut Pakbara who died a year and a half after the rescue, due to an infection he got in the caves. There were 5000+ heroes who helped in the rescue and you men also gave all you had. And also RIP to "Beam" Papangkorn Lerkchaleampote who died 6 months before the series got released.

Watch with subtitles dubbing is woeful

[asherburman · 8/10 · 27 September 2022]

The acting by the boys and the mothers are excellent. Some of the dialogue is hard to digest and might have come from startrek the worse epespodes of ultruism.

It's a shame Elon Musk didn't make his cameo.

It is interesting to see the egos of the senior politicians worrying about how they might look before making decisions to rescue The videographyis excellent and the scenes done in low light is well acted as well as well recorded.

Do Not watch dubbed into English. It's so so bad

Really the dubbed English is criminal Switch the subtitles on

Enjoy listening to Thai people and seeing the surroundings of a beautiful country that I would love to visit one day and reading the translation.

Good To Watch If...

[michaelkingi · 6/10 · 25 September 2022]

You know nothing about the story or minimal information.

I thought this was acceptable to watch, but may have overlooked the real heroes behind the scenes.

Ben Reymenants & Maksym Polejaka.

The kids acting in it are believable and the overall cast is great!

In regards to the actual rescue there were a number of people dedicated to finding these 12 boys and coach from what I have watched and read, some became heroes, and some were sidelined for whatever reasons.

Everyone involved, really speaking, should have been recognised for whatever effort was made except maybe the two British cave divers that came in right at the end to take all the glory

Well, they were there at the start, but decided to back out as they thought it too risky so they stayed well and truly out of it until the way was cleared.

The Navy seals that were there to execute the rescue didn't have the same experience as some of the professional cave divers that were there yet made up for it with their bravery and hard effort even though it meant risking their own lives, and unfortunately, Saman Gunan lost his life and one year later another navy seal diver lost his life after picking up an infection from the cave.

The two cave divers that actually did what was needed more than anyone else was Ben Reymenants and Maksym Polejaka as they were the ones that were able to get passed the flooded caverns and secure red rope from one end point to the one cavern no one else could find or reach due to poor visibility and such. Once that cavern was found and pegged off - the rest of the cave was relatively easy to manoeuvre through all the way to where those boys and coach were located. In fact, Ben and Maksym probably would have gone further had they had more rope on them and if Maksym had more air in his diving tank as he only had 1-2 hours left. Might I mention there was one moment there that could have ended quite tragically for them both.

A lot of people collaborated to save these 13 young lives and that shouldn't be ignored at all, however, the real heroes that made the difference as far as I'm concerned are Ben and Maksym if what I saw in their interviews is anything to go by.

There are other heroes too, but for different reasons.

Films and tv series would be great if they kept close to the real events and who really was who or at least give credit where credit is due.

Watchable....Just

[nickwiggans-47274 · 4/10 · 26 September 2022]

The Rescue and 13 Lives were released earlier and are both excellent, so I understand the desire to differentiate this production, however my opinion is the quest to bring a unique story has butchered what is the most dramatic rescue event in recent memory.

I watched this expecting a retelling of true events but with a focus on the boys - Netflix had pretty much exclusive access to their side of the story, the struggle they faced whilst trapped inside with no real option but to wait for their inevitable deaths - but came away disappointed as the extremely well publicised rescue tale was changed so dramatically from true events that it's hard to take anything at face value.

The first episode was quite compelling, but quickly the series descends into farce as the rescue gets underway. Real drama was replaced with artificial drama, the efforts of many of the thousands of volunteers glossed over or completely ignored to shoehorn in a pretty actress as the water engineer seemingly acting pretty much alone (well, aided by a park ranger) to reduce water levels in the cave. I just don't understand the need for such drastic changes when the true story is at least as dramatic and gripping as this highly fictionalised retelling.

The majority of western actors are fairly weak which further detracts. I can't really comment on the Thai cast members as watched with subtitles, but their contribution seemed better.

If you've not seen The Rescue or 13 Lives perhaps you'll come away from this feeling differently, but my main emotion was feeling incredibly underwhelmed. This could and should have been so much better.

Better than I think!

[mnutnichae · 10/10 · 26 September 2022]

This is a good series. It was real. It was great at storytelling. The screenplay also was good and reflect Thai culture. The actors and actresses in this series could be played in reality. This series was full of cooperation and carry all hope from many people in the world. As it was a long time passed, this series makes me feel in an event again. We lost 1 person for saving 13 kids which is why the filmmaker has to produce this series to remind and recall this happened! Till finally we were done. The boys are so stronger than I think. Then if you read this, I will recommend you to watch all episodes!

Once in a lifetime

[henriettae-26442 · 10/10 · 20 September 2023]

How can such a beautiful, compelling, captivating, heroic story made to motion picture in such accurate delivery, be rated so low? This is easily a 10/10. The actors, the production, everything is absolutely phenomenal. These boys surviving was an absolute once in a lifetime kind of miracle, and this series portrays it perfectly, it is well worth your time, trust me! Watch it!

I was absolutely captivated from start to finish. The bittersweet feel of both the rescue - being that all the boys survived except the heroic veteran cave driver - and the movie itself shows us the balance of life, in a way it depicts one of the episodes message about the woman who tried to find a family without grief and couldn't. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant, underrated cooperative effort. Bravo!

Very good acting

[pj-now · 9/10 · 20 August 2023]

All of the kids and most of the adult actors were really impressive with their performances. I didn't notice anybody being "wooden" and no over-acting, either. Those kid actors can grow up and take their place in future projects with confidence now. And the overall direction/production of the series was very good, too. Caves and water challenges were handled well.

I like how they were able to hilite the lush scenery of Thailand, too. It would be too humid for me to live there but it does look beautiful.

It's a story that Thailand can be very proud of, and the movie is a very good and respectful representation of the events surrounding it (with some dramatic embellishments, sure)

I cried; The best series I've seen this year.

[oktao99 · 10/10 · 6 December 2022]

Before watching the movie Thirteen Lives, I watched the series Thai Cave Rescue on Netflix. After watching it, I watched Thirteen Lives. I love both but I prefer Thai Cave Rescue, Here's why:

The series on Netflix is seen from the boy's and the coach's perspective, also the boy's families and other Thai citizens. The movie is shown from the rescuers' perspective, more specifically, the divers that are from the UK and Australia. That means that less Thai was heard in the movie, and more Thai was heard in the series. In the series, we got to see and know a lot more about the Wild Boars, the coach, and his heroism. But in the movie, there was none of it. The movie was good, but it wasn't as encouraging and inspirational as the series. For example, on the series, when some of the rescue team got permission from the farmers to flood their crop fields (so it would be easier for the divers to save the boys), at first most of the farmers refused, but one stood up and said something underlines like "...we can regrow our crops, but we can't regrow these boys..." That was one of the most heartfelt lines in the series. My point is that I didn't hear anything like this in the movie. One thing I disliked in the movie was that one of the divers (from the UK or Australia) disrespected Thai religion and culture. Other than the rescue plan, I also took in the beautiful scenery of Tham Luang Nang Non and all of Chiang Rai especially in the series, I would love to visit one day, since I already I study the Thai language and love the culture and history. I cried while watching both the movie and series, I was crying and cheering with the rescuers and locals when they saved all the boys.

After watching, I did my research and knowing that this rescue got worldwide attention, Thailand got the help from hundreds of divers from around the world and it was on every news broadcast, the team being widely recognized in the sports world (football (soccer) specifically), being on major talk shows like Ellen...All that being said, I really hate to say that I was not aware of any of this at the time...I was literally "blind and deaf", and that upsets me. As of now, this is all new to me... This is best series I came across this year, this #1 in my books. And I will also watch the other films/documentaries that are based on this incident.

RIP to Beam Papangkorn Lerkchaleampote, who played Coach Eak in the series, my thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. He was only 25-years-old, he was a talented actor with a heart of gold. Gone too soon.

Inaccurate but entertaining

[sweetnotes · 6/10 · 11 February 2023]

I was intrigued by the idea that Disney+, Amazon Prime, and Netflix all released films/series about the same story within a year of each other and decided I wanted to watch them all to compare.

Disney+ has National Geographic's documentary The Rescue, which is by far the best of the three. Next up is Amazon's Thirteen Lives, which is a dramatization of the event that was directed by Rob Howard and stars Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell. That would be second best on my list, with the Netflix series coming in last.

So, what's wrong with the series? Well for one, it's wildly inaccurate, and I honestly don't understand the point. They skipped dramatic things that happened in real life in favor of made-up drama, which I find confusing. I also think some of the dialogue is a little odd- especially when you have young kids making wise and serious observations about life and death shortly after they were fooling around with one another. It felt very out of place and forced, as though the viewer is meant to assume that these little kids are all suddenly wise beyond their years.

That being said, this series is still entertaining to watch and definitely has value. I like that it's centered on the experience of the players, their families, and other members of the local community, unlike the other versions which are primarily focused on the English and Australian rescue divers. The fact that it was filmed in Thai and English also adds to the realism and allows the viewer to understand some of the challenges that an international team would have faced in overcoming language barriers.

It's worth watching for the stellar performance of Beam Papangkorn as Coach Eak alone. I was very sorry to discover that he died prior to the release of this series, as he was very talented and I'm sure would have been in high demand following this performance. It was nice to have more women in this version too, though I'm not sure that all of the made up characters they added were necessary.

All in all, if you're looking for something to watch and aren't that worried about accuracy, it's worth a try. However, if you have Disney+ or Amazon, definitely make the time to watch The Rescue or Thirteen Lives also.

I really enjoyed the dramatisation of this very real event.

[chillit-91156 · 9/10 · 30 October 2022]

Thank you Netflix - I really enjoyed your dramatisation of this very real event. You kept me fascinated, enthralled and tense throughout, despite me being aware of the final outcome. I learnt a lot about the entire story from many perspectives. It was a very emotional, detailed and thought provoking dramatisation.

I appreciate that a drama documentary of real events can have some relatively minor errors and/or omissions - IMO it was good that Elon Musk's efforts to muscle in were not portrayed whatsoever 👍🏽 It was only after doing some research that I discovered that the filming was actually done in the very same Tham Luang Cave!

There is also another interesting Netflix title, The Trapped 13, that interviews the boys of the trapped football team that were involved.

This is what Disney was in the past!

[neojudus · 10/10 · 23 September 2023]

This is a fantastic miniseries! I hate the fact it's dubbed, but I understand why it happened. As a member of Generation X, I love the fact that we introduced America to anime. The story is too deep to allow for subtitles. Most people would not watch. It's a 100% classic! This film is a banger! The use of local actors and geography is perfect. It's a Western story told through Eastern eyes. If you know the story, and read or watched the details, you'll appreciate the film making. It's not perfect; however, the spirit and the passion shine through! Boys and Girls, watch closely; this is how you tell a story on film (video)!

Poor acting ruins it

[ptrieba · 4/10 · 22 September 2022]

I was really looking forward to this new Netflix production, since it is the first project about the 2018 cave rescue with the rights to the story of the boys in the Wild Boar soccer team, who got stuck in a flooded cave for more than two weeks.

I've already seen the documentary "The Rescue" and the drama film "13 Lives", so I was hoping to learn something new about this incident. And I guess I did.

Unfortunately it pales in comparison to these other productions. The makers of this series did not only take dramatic license with the subject matter but flat out invented aspects and side stories make it more dramatic. On top of that the acting is on soap opera level at best, at least for the adult actors. The young actors portraying the boys are quite good, but can't rescue this mediocre series.

I advise to watch the aforementioned documentary or movie.

Don't miss this at all!

[UmeshAditya · 10/10 · 16 October 2022]

Don't miss this at all, What a brilliant series! Haven't seen anything like this before. The entire 6 hours it will keep you hooked up to the screen. Based on true rescue mission wherein 18 days about 13 boys were trapped in a cave due to floods. With every passing minute, series only gets more n more better.

My ratings 10/10!

Don't miss this at all, What a brilliant series! Haven't seen anything like this before. The entire 6 hours it will keep you hooked up to the screen. Based on true rescue mission wherein 18 days about 13 boys were trapped in a cave due to floods. With every passing minute, series only gets more n more better. My ratings 10/10!

I was glued to this series

[lunaventure · 10/10 · 13 August 2023]

This series must of been a real challange to make. It was so realistic and kept me on edge. Even though I knew the story. The children even though I watched it in Thai, were amazing. The underwater scenes were so well filmed. I am unsure if the the actors from the US Uk and Australia were actors or real divers with SEAL training. But all were good. I watched the real story a bit after but I found it took away from the series. It was sad to read about the lead actor who passed away.as I would like to have seen him in other films. I hope that all of the kids both the real.ones and the actors have a wonderful life ahead of them.

Who is David Ellsworth

[verdala · 2/10 · 24 September 2022]

So I would give this a better rating, except I don't know who the American diver David Ellsworth is. I googled him and the Thai rescue mission and he's now where to be found. As far as I know, it was a CANADIAN by the name of ERIK BROWN. He deserves the credit,and it's really terrible he wasn't mentioned at all. This movie made it look like a documentary when mentioning a fictional character. But guess if it's financed by America, you have to have an American hero. David Ellsworth doesn't exists when it comes to this rescue, and I'm shocked they thought they could fool us about something this well known and easily fact checked.

The version of disappointment

[folk_egm · 5/10 · 23 September 2022]

The so-called version of disappointment from the director's credit The production wasn't good enough, scalded, rough in many places, lacking realism. Timeline is inaccurate The jumping narrative lacks smoothness. Cut disrespect to the many real volunteers. The script and the actors still can't get into the mood. For those of you who have watched the previous version, especially the two movies after The Rescue and Thirteen Lives, skip this one. But if anyone has never seen a version before, you can try it. Because the story is simulated in the story, it still has a real and exciting + interesting part. That makes people who only eat news or think that Ian, after watching it, may like it up a bit.