Well from hell

Rating: Null/10 (1 October 2016)

I should have felt it more, right from the beginning, that this is very near to being a documentary (such as, for example, "United 93"). But it is only during the ending credit roll that I saw the sincere effort to pay tribute to the survivors and the missing (presumed dead) in this worst ever old rig accident in history.
While mega-action director Peter Berg ("The Kingdom", "Hancock", "Battleship") has sensible stayed away from the melodramatic, the establishing scene are sprinkled with small details to enhance the dimensions. There is the cutest 7-or-8-year-old (Stella Allen) who tells her parents that she didn't knock on their bedroom doors because she wants to have a baby brother. There is the attractive oil rig crew member (Gina Rodriguez) who is almost fetish about her Mustang. There is the polite request for a visitor to remove his purple-red tie as this is the color that signifies emergencies on an oil rig. There is also an inconsequential bird-collision in the helicopter flight to the oil rig that reminds me immediately of Captain Sully flying over the Hudson River!
It is all these little details that take the dryness out of a documentary. But as we move into the disaster, telling the story simply and honestly would suffice. This is the BP oil rig disaster that began on April 20, 2010 that led to the worst oil spill ever, on the Gulf of Mexico. The sound and visual of the infernal mayhem need no dramatic enhancement. And then there are also details that will send a shiver down your spine: someone trying to push into his boot a foot that is covered with shards of shattered glass (the poor soul was in the shower when the explosion came). This film is an honest and realistic effort to bring to the screen this tragic event, without overly dramatizing the villainy, although BP did plead guilty to 11 counts of manslaughter. The real photos of the 11 victim were shown in succession during the ending credit.
The cast is solid. Mark Wahlberg as the chief engineer is heroism personified. Kurt Russell as the in-charge of the oil rig still has a lot of fire in him and is a joy to watch as he shines with resilience and leadership. John Malkovich displays excellent seasoned constrain in portraying the BP man whose dictionary has only one word: profit. Kate Hudson is in a familiar role of the hero's helpless wife. But she is in good company i.e. talented Laura Linney in a very similar (but not as desperate) role in "Sully".