The 33 (2015) - Great true story squandered in uninspired movie

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Antonio Banderas seems to be looking up in wonder at a mysterious, giant, floating number on this poster for Patricia Riggen's The 33

A greedy mine boss sends a new group of workers down into a mine, which is showing signs of imminent collapse. Soon after a part of the mine collapses, and the 33 men find themselves buried alive in a hollow space about a kilometer below the surface ...

Regrettably, no good film has been dug out of the incredible true story of the 2010 Chilean mining disaster. The 33 is deeply uninspired, flat and boring, seemingly dragging itself towards its ending, which for most of its audiences is already known. Apparently the bet of the filmmakers here has been that it would somehow become compelling storytelling, if enough stars got sprinkled on it, - but great actors employed here can't change the film's deficiency. Furthermore, the only star that really stands out is Gabriel Byrne (No Pay, Nudity (2016)), but for the wrong reason: He seems to start out here with a Spanish accent, which then turns back to his natural Irish English accent shortly after.
The 33 is written by Mikko Alanne (5 Days of War (2011)), Craig Borten (Dallas Buyers Club (2013)) and Michael Thomas (Welcome to Woop Woop (1997)) with Jose Rivera (Letters to Juliet (2010)) contributing story elements, based on Héctor Tobar's (The Tattooed Soldier (1998)) Deep Down Dark (2014) nonfiction novel, and directed by Patricia Riggen (Miracles from Heaven (2016)). It is a poorly handled, conventional film spun over an incredible story.

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Antonio Banderas gives an interview about the film here

 

Cost: 26 mil. $

Box office: 27.9 mil. $

= Big flop

[The 33 was released November 6 (Chile) and runs 127 minutes. It is the first film to receive the Colombian Film Commission's incentive for shooting in the country. Jennifer Lopez had to bow out due to her work on American Idol and was replaced by Juliette Binoche. Filming took place from November 2013 - February 2014 in Colombia and Chile, including at the actual site of the event. James Horner's score is the second of two he made in 2015, just before he passed away. The film opened #5, behind behind Spectre, The Peanuts Movie, Love the Coopers (the only other new release of the 5) and The Martian, to a 5.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its second week and grossed 12.2 mil. $ (43.7 % of the total gross). The film is a US-Chilean co-production, and in Chile, it reigned #1 for 5 consecutive weeks and grossed 4.9 mil. $ (17.6 %). The 3rd biggest market was China with 3.4 mil. $ (12.2 %). The 33 is rotten at 44 % with a 5.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The 33?