A very unexpected great movie!

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2016)

This is my first review ever on IMDb. I never could have thought it would be this movie, mainly because after hearing about it and seeing the trailer I had such low expectations for it. I don't really like Mark Wahlbergs acting, the director Peter Berg hasn't made a lot of movies that were any good and the plot seemed a bit weird at first, the heroic story of the people responsible for the biggest oil spill in recent history. Also 2016 was the year of movie let downs, I think most of us can agree on that.
So I went into this movie quite skeptical, thinking it would be as close to true facts as Harry Potter and would treat its audience as dumb children. And yes the first 10 minutes showed the childish metaphor from the trailer with the coke can to explain the oil spill, but after that it became much more scientific and complicated. For me it was just on the right level, but I think for people without an engineering background as myself, this would go over their heads.
Not a big problem honestly, because one of the things this movie does best is keeping tempo and building suspense. I liked the quick interactions with the crew in the first act, they were a bit to "perfect" but still believable. Also Mark Wahlberg was perfect for this movie, he seemed very believable and I was pleasantly surprised by his acting. The first 15 minutes or so were a bit cliché, but as soon as they were on the rig the movie kept surprising with no rushed romances and a realistic view of the after math when coming home.
There were not a lot of things I didn't like. In the first act it was a bit cliché that everybody had a "bad feeling" about the upcoming job and took away from the realism. Also the special effects, especially the fire (the water was great), although probably good enough for the average movie watcher, didn't convinced me. Also a bit of Amercain patriotism, but not enough to take away the realism.
It's weird, this isn't the best movie I've ever watched, but because it exceeded my expectations so much I am as enthusiastic about it as if it was, maybe even more. Go watch this movie with low expectations and it will be amazing.