The technical overrides the emotions

Rating: 4/10 (2 October 2016)

Mark Whalberg and Kurt Russell are two of the most likable actors out there, so there should be no reason why we couldn't establish some type of connection with them. At first, we got a little bit of an introduction to the Whalberg's happy family. We really don't know anything about Russell or any of the other workers, except that there seems to be no problem among them. It's not quite the case with some of the touring executives, and there lies the conflict.
We are given a light tour of the facilities, somehow going into very simple explanations of what goes on inside the place. For what it must be the longest and most tedious scenes in an "action movie", we sit through endless discussions relating to technical and managerial issues that might be accurate but are only confusing and tedious to the average viewer. We can't wait for the station to explode so they can stop talking.
When the fireworks finally arrive, we given what should have been a grand display of technical effects: visual and audio. There are some good minutes here and there, but it's too dark, the editing is a bit sloppy, and we are hardly able to see who is going through what because I suppose it would have been easy to tell it was a stuntman or stunt woman.
I keep thinking back to movies like "Titanic", "The Poseidon Adventure", or "Life of Pi", where careful direction and bit of restraint got us involved, caring a bit for whatever is going on. "Deepwater" is not the type of movie that requires details to get too complex. We go in to relate to those involved, to care for the heroes, to hiss at the villains, to feel like we're part of the ordeal. The hints are here, but we never go beyond the surface.