A Decent Watch for the Sake of the Subject and Acting

Rating: 7/10 (20 October 2016)

Based on one of the worst environmental disasters, Deepwater Horizon does well enough - largely due to its casting and well-directed climax. From what I have read, the movie made some technical mistakes, but that may be noticeable to people who have read about the disaster in detail.
Story (7/10): Deepwater horizon brings back the memories of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster that was perhaps one of the worst environmental disasters till date. The story revolves around the Chief Electrical Engineer, played by Mark Wahlberg, and general operational supervisor, played by Kurt Russell, and their futile efforts to convince the money minded BP officials about the potentially fatal dangers of trimmed down inspections and distorted tests. Unfortunately, the inevitable happens and the story moves around how the Chief Electrical Engineer goes beyond the call of duty to save every single life possible. In real life incident based movies - research can make or break the movie. The movie falls a little short in terms of the accuracy and details of the events and the cause of the explosion.
Acting (8/10): Kurt Russell and Mark Wahlberg did great work in lead roles. Mark Wahlberg has this subtle honesty that gets projected in almost every movie and has helped him a lot here with the kind of character he played. Kurt Russell, complementing Mark, projects a strong leader who survives some of the most brutal blows as the rig sets ablaze. John Malkovich, playing the negative role, is impressive with his dialog delivery. However, what was more noticeable was the screen presence of the supporting cast around these two. I felt this was a movie where everyone gave their best, or at least tried to. In such movies, the lead actors tend to take over the entire movie but that didn't happen here.
Direction (7/10): Peter Berg does a decent job with a slow and vague build up to the plot. However, once the disaster hits, the direction of sequences and the special effects is very impressive. In patches, the director stretches it too far in terms of showing the protagonists survive intensely fatal blows - but I guess that's why they make movies. The use of supporting cast and allowing them to show their presence makes the movie a little unique.
Overall (7/10): In spite of some technical mistakes and below par first half, this movie is a decent watch for the sake of the subject and acting.