Pressures mount in Peter Burg’s Deepwater Horizon, which tells the true story of the biggest oil disaster in US history.
The film chronicles the events of April 20, 2010 when the oil spill happened in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s headed by Mark Wahlberg (Mike Williams) and Kurt Russell (Jimmy Harrell). John Malkovich (Virdine) plays a good, yet unlikable, greedy and I-only-care-about-the-bottom-line kind of business man.
The movie makes no point of hiding what will happen as obvious visuals and bits of dialogue foreshadow the coming events.
The first instance involves a Coca-Cola can that gushes like Old Faithful; Jimmy receives a safety award for the not-so-lucky seventh straight year, and a magenta tie appears.
The vibe on the rig is one that oozes with the blue-collar, hardworking mentality, and most of the cast develops a southern accent, since it is set off the Louisiana coast, allowing for the characters to feel honestly relatable and real.
Once everything seems to be OK and all of the safety procedures have cleared – everything starts to head south — and fast. It is a sprint to the end of the movie once the rig begins to have some malfunctions.
This is when the film really shines. The fast-paced sequences and cuts in between different characters’ views are shot nicely and are not too jumpy. Each character receives enough screen time to make the viewer sympathize with his or her experience.
Wahlberg and Russell really make a deep connection with not a whole lot of screen time. Another character that Wahlberg strongly interacts with is Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez), especially as the movie progresses towards the conclusion.
Russell particularly shines in his role, exhibiting all of a leader’s best qualities throughout the film.
As the rig is falling apart, there are some disturbing images that make you cringe just a bit, but the images help show the severity of the situation. The grittiness, darkness, heat and fear can all be felt as the rig is catching fire.
The main three characters all have a nice resolution at the end (because by that time, the audience is just as relieved to be off of the rig as they are!).
Make sure to stay until the the very end of the film; there is a list of the 11 people who lost their lives on Deepwater Horizon.
Rate: 7.3/10
Photo courtesy of Lionsgate Productions