Deepwater Horizon (2016) Review!!!

Synopsis – A story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

My Take – I have always enjoyed director Peter Berg‘s films, even the not-so-well received films like Battleship & The Rundown. Hancock, The Kingdom and of course, Lone Survivor are among my favorites from his work. Here he reunites with Lone Survivor lead, Mark Wahlberg to give us a visual account of the largest oil disaster in U.S. history. This film recounts the 2010 event of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Millions of gallons of oil spewed from the ocean floor for 87 days all captured and broadcast with a live internet feed. It was the worst oil spill in US history and BP oil has paid over $70 billion in fines and clean-up efforts. The occurring spill in the floating oil rig of Deepwater Horizon lead to a catastrophic explosion which resulted in the loss of 11 crew lives. So is this film as fascinating and heroic as most disaster- action-biopics try to be? Well, yes. This is a film that succeeds on two levels: as an action-packed blockbuster and as an honest depiction of a tragic disaster. Director Peter Berg has proportionately balanced the sequence of events by keeping them well paced and purposefully developed the characters for a good chunk of the film. It takes about 45 minutes before the crap hits the fan, during which we’re allowed time to get to know the characters – their quirks, their personalities – so we can empathize with their situation. The stakes feel real, as they should (and were), which is a testament to the directing and the acting.

The story follows Chief Electronics Technician Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) who wakes up on the morning of April 20, 2010 to leave for another round on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which is out on the Gulf of Mexico. Leaving behind his 10-year-old daughter and his wife Felicia (Kate Hudson), Mike is joined by his supervisor Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell), navigation worker Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez), Caleb Holloway (Dylan O’Brien) and the rest of the oil workers. Coming on board in BP Oil (the company in charge of the Deepwater Horizon) is corporate man Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich). Jimmy and Mike make it clear to Donald that the ship and its machines are in need of great repair and that it’s errors have placed a lot of strain on the oil well. It seems to be releasing gas pressures higher then usual, but Donald see’s this as routines and orders to run the drill as scheduled as they are already lagging behind. Plus, they have also skipped a concrete test and excused a failed system test. And just as history has taught us, in such cases disasters are bound to happen as the pressure of the petroleum proves too much, causing it to erupt, setting off a series of explosions. On that night, Deepwater Horizon became a floating hell as the surviving oil workers try get off before it’s too late. Much of the first half deals with BP’s neglect and the conflict with the experienced workers aboard the rig. The unflattering digs are not discreet and we imagine that BP in no way will be exultant to see how Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand‘s screenplay shines the light on corporate greed. Director Berg does his best to try and describe the safety tests that took place aboard the vessel, but it’s not until the first explosion that audiences will become engaged in the horrific ordeal. Berg with his personalize the story by focusing on a few key people involved in the events depicted. We get some good character developments and a detailed behind-the-scenes look at the considerations, disagreements and actions that led up to the catastrophic explosion, but there are a couple of problems with all that. Berg does a good job with a combination of dialog, on-screen verbiage and impressive visuals to help us understand the dynamics at play, but it almost seems like too much, and the conversations, with a lot of technical jargon, characters talking over each other and seeming to mumble their lines, and some with various southern accents and some without, combine to make it difficult to tune one’s ear to the dialog and understand everything that’s being said. Plus keeping in mind all disaster based films its hard for the film to stay away from predictability.

Once the characters are established, you know who is/ is not going to survive the ordeal. However, the main point of this film is the survival story. Berg had a realistic version of the rig built (including many working components) for shooting. His attention to detail – in the set and in the film’s visual effects is nothing short of remarkable. What’s more, we care about the characters and the danger they’re in feels real. The disaster itself is portrayed brilliantly. The tone remains frantic and the stunning special effects work puts it over the edge. Once things go south, it’s a nonstop adrenaline rush till the end. Even though Berg never loses sight of the end goal here, but some ‘action’-ish scenes are almost a little too much, considering how contained this story feels. It doesn’t take you out of the film, but you will feel like it could have been handled differently. For certain, audiences will not bored through the blasts and heroics of our protagonists. Where the film does falter is in its emotional appeal. Although we get a small glimpse into the home life of Mike Williams, the film doesn’t pull at the heartstrings for the eleven souls lost that fateful April evening. They are memorialized before the end credits role, but they are lost in the shuffle of action packed sequences that consume the 107-minute running time of the film. As mentioned before this film marks the reunion of director Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg who collaborated on Lone Survivor three years ago. It was nominated for Oscars for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for best stunt team performance. While Wahlberg has been nominated for his roles in The Fighter and The Departed, he’s one of those reliable actors who makes smart choices. If you’ve liked one thing Wahlberg has done, odds are, you’ll like them all. Kurt Russell is once again given the opportunity to remind us why he’s one of the biggest stars ever. John Malkovich displays excellent seasoned constrain in portraying the BP man whose dictionary has only one word: profit. Gina Rodriguez, Kate Hudson & Dylan O’Brien play their parts well. On the whole, ‘Deepwater Horizon’ is a fascinating, entertaining and inspiring take on a real-life disaster that despite predictability works due to its solid production values & amazing performances. This one is the first of two Peter Berg directed films this year, and if Patriots Day (also starring Mark Wahlberg) is anywhere near as good as this film we could be looking at quite a few nominations for Berg come February.