The 33 - C

Antonio Banderas

Rated PG-13, 125 minutes

The 2010 Chilean Mining Disaster had the world on the edge of their seats to save some trapped miners, and a much more compelling story than the lackluster movie that tells their story in the new likable but plodding, overlong drama "The 33." Directed by Patricia Riggen ("Under the Same Moon"), it has a handful of compelling moments but unmemorable characters, due to some rather odd casting choices that hurt the movie. Disaster strikes on Aug. 5, 2010, as a copper and gold mine collapses in Chile, trapping 33 men underground. With more than 2,000 feet of rock in their way, members of a rescue team work tirelessly for 69 days to save the seemingly doomed men. Beneath the rubble, the miners, led by Mario (Antonio Banderas) and Don Lucho (Lou Diamond Phillips), begin an epic quest to survive, becoming a race against time and a test of the human spirit. The uneven effort "The 33," based on the account of the situation, "Deep Down Dark" by Hector Tobar, could've been part gritty survival story, part inspiring rescue effort, and while there are a few affecting moments in the last act, it lacks the intensity and emotional impact that a true story like this should have, on the level of say the recent "Everest," and it could've benefited from stronger directing and writing. On that note, there are two central things that hurt the movie: the sluggish, unfocused script that is about 20 minutes too long, and the miscasting of several key characters. The story below ground, with the trapped miners, is the much more involving story and both Banderas and Phillips are solid, but they're given less footage than the bland rescue team, led by the handsome Rodrigo Santoro and Gabriel Byrne or any of the banal, unnecessary backstory of a few of the miners. Even worse is the odd miscasting of several main players, namely lovely French actress and Oscar-winner Juliette Binoche as the estranged sister of one of the trapped miners (her strong French accent is hard to disguise), as well as Byrne as the chief engineer and American character actor Bob Gunton as Chilean President Pinera; blink and you'll miss another odd casting choice, James Brolin, whose part amounts to a cameo. The best part comes with the emotional rescue at the end and actually seeing all the real miners, not to mention the movie is also dedicated to Oscar-winning composer James Horner, one of the last films he composed before his death earlier this year. Most unfortunate is that the unsatisfying "The 33" fails to capture the true spirit of these honorable men, and doesn't really do them justice; you're better off reading Tobar's nonfiction novel or watching clips of the rescue.