Deepwater Horizon

First off, based on some recent feedback I've received, and to switch it up a bit, I'll be changing my font color from blue to this lovely, lovely gray. Enjoy!

On to the review...

Deepwater Horizon is the retelling of a portion of the BP Oil Spill disaster that struck in 2010 and quickly became one of the worst man-made disasters in both U.S. and world history. 

Interestingly enough, I actually wrote a thesis paper of sorts on the oil spill as my main assignment in one of my grad school classes. It was a supremely interesting topic and writing 30+ pages on it became all too easy, recounting the exact science of how it happened, what the fallout was, who was held accountable, etc. It was a disaster that was too preventable unfortunately and the result was horrific both in immediate consequences and long lasting ones. 

The movie focuses a lot on this, and for good reason. This isn't titled BP Oil Spill -- there isn't much film dedicated to the disastrous cleanup and oil released into the ocean post oil rig disaster. It would have made for a 3+ hour film. Arguably this disaster probably deserves such an epic at some point down the line, but Deepwater Horizon doesn't aim to be it, and that's okay. Much like directer Peter Berg and Wahlberg's other team-ups (i.e. Lone Survivor), Horizon focuses on the everyman; the men and women who were on the rig, doing their jobs, and who were forced to survive this horrible accident. 

The next Transformers actually features an oil rig transformer

Given the term "blowout", just imagine
if this was the aftermath of a giant baby ^^

Horizon is a successful film, more than one might expect actually. It's biggest win in my eyes was how much it actively and successfully teaches the audience about oil rig life and operations. You won't walk away an expert by any means, but you'll soon be effortlessly knowing what they're talking about and you begin to understand how this unit of workers functions less like colleagues and more like a family. Part of this could be the extensive research for my paper, but I think the writers implemented some brief teaching moments that are critical in helping the audience understanding what went so wrong. This is mostly effective before the disaster as, once the blowout happens, it's chaos. Berg is also skilled here, creating an intense, violent, and even somewhat gory PG-13 environment. He doesn't hide the fact that 11 men lost their lives on the explosion of the Horizon (an often forgotten fact) and they died gruesome, horrible deaths. Deepwater doesn't revel in that, but it also doesn't shy away from showing the war-esque aftermath. It implements shaky-cam at some points that gets a tad too wild, but other than that, it's a believable and horrific scene of flame, broken glass, debris, and mud. 

Wahlberg is great as a leading man. No surprise there and he and Berg seem to really be on the same level when it comes to capturing the type of characters they'd like to portray and story they'd like to tell. His character is still a "hero" here, sure, but this isn't action-star-Wahlberg. He gets afraid, even breaks down eventually -- again, he's the everyman. Kurt Russel is a strong cast member too, acting as the rig's lead and bringing a gruff tenacity to the role. He helps to make the pre-blowout event exciting, even something as routine as a Negative Pressure Test. Dylan O' Brien, Gina Rodriguez, John Malkovich, and Kate Hudson round out a subtly impressive cast and I have complaints about none of them. Malkovich is particularly effective as a BP executive who knows what he is talking about, but doesn't have the same "gut" feelings as the rig workers. A villain of sorts, maybe, but it's a tamed down performance from what we're used to seeing from him that's realistic.

I cant even imagine what being inside that rig was like.
Mud and fire everywhere...

Deepwater Horizon is a film that I find hard to fault at many turns. It's effective with an appropriate 107 minute runtime, features strong performances, tells an interesting story, and is effective in handling its emotion and approach of the disaster. I don't think it's worthy of many nominations come award season necessarily, but that doesn't diminish the fact that it's a damn good movie and one that does right by the 11 souls lost that day that were often [sadly] forgotten because of the larger implications. 

CONS

• Too wild of shaky cam in a few hectic parts
• Doesn't have too much to say about the disaster's long term consequences and skirts over some of the blame that BP execs deserved
• Could have used a more memorable original score
• Stops explaining most things once the blowout happens

PROS

• Sets up our characters, primarily Wahlberg, well and doesn't rush to the climax
• Speaking of, Wahlberg is good as ever leading a film
• Other cast members do their jobs well, most turning in subtle, but real performances of normal people
• Excels at explaining several facets of rig life and rig operations. You should be understanding why/what is happening by the time the blowout happens. I always love some education in my movies!
• Maintains a consistent intensity throughout. We already know what happens, so that's quite an impressive feat
• The actual blowout and explosion are pretty fantastic and the film sets up the horrendous environment well. It looks like something straight out of hell
• Picks its focus (the souls aboard) and sticks with it. The result is an emotional, effective, teaching tale

Rath's Review Score | 8/10