Deepwater Horizon boasts an authentic and terrifying disaster into a gripping action-heavy vehicle

Rating: 9/10 (9 October 2016)

There's only a handful of filmmakers who manage to tap into real-life events and adapting them to the silver screen in a way that effectively balances sheer authenticity and gripping emotional heft. Peter Berg is certainly one of them, and his treatment on the war genre in his previous film 'Lone Survivor' supplies fair evidence. This action-heavy disaster tale focusing on the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that occurred in April 20, 2010, spilling hundreds of millions of oil into the Gulf of Mexico; shows Berg further expanding on his ambitious gift on springing terrifying events to life in a way that not only shines diligently with realism, but also pays a respectful tribute to the men and women who either suffered or lost their lives in this tragedy. And Berg does so without feeling the need to regurgitate on tired disaster clichés and contrived sentimentality. Collaborating with Peter Berg for the second time, Mark Wahlberg plays Mike Williams, a father and husband who takes a four-week job at the oil rig forty miles off the coast of New Orleans. Set with a crew of 120 men including operations supervisor Jimmy Harrell (played by Kurt Russell) and BP executive Donald Vidrine (played by John Malkovich) who Mike warns about the various machinery issues that could put the employees in danger. Unfortunately, he ignores these problems. When the BP executives test out the oil pipes, they witness an alarming increase in the oil pressure that within moments, causes violent explosion that not only severely injures several crew members including Mike and Jimmy, but sends the entire oil rig engulfed in flames and the large crew in a harrowing escape for their lives as the U.S coast guard journeys across sea for help.
Terrifying is barely enough to describe the heart-pounding intensity and realism Peter Berg captures in this disaster thriller, and how efficiently he is on capturing characters you come to care about with more than the single reason being the fact of they are inspired by real-life figures who had suffered this horror. During the first thirty minutes, the film spends its time introducing the characters and who they are, along with systemically explaining the components of the oil rig; this includes tapping into Mike Williams and his relationship with his wife (played by Kate Hudson, Kurt Russell's step-daughter) and his young daughter who passionately admires him. This also involves establishing the carelessness of John Malkovich's character, a BP executive who basically made to be the villain of the whole situation when he ignores all the warning signs that eventually lead to the nefarious catastrophe. The rest of fellow oil workers are left with virtually no character development, which is almost predictable considering the large number of characters we're force to swallow. Above this minor flaw, Peter Berg does a magnificent job on the setting up for the the prolonged disaster sequence in which we are treated with some of the most anguishing moments ever brought to screen in the disaster category; with very infrequent opportunities to breath. Machines exploding, metal flying, oil splattering, and bodies tossed around and about; there is absolutely no sugar-coating in Peter Berg's depiction of the hellish disaster. If you can the remember the anguishing cliff dive scene from 'Lone Survivor', that is close to what the disaster here feels like. With gruesome imagery of the character's injuries including Kurt Russell's disfigured face and the immersive cinematography by Enrique Chediak to capture the atmosphere of the brutal inferno, the film effectively pulls you into the heat of the character's fight for survival, and does so without igniting into Michael Bay-style mayhem but instead treating the explosive catastrophe in substance. Each time a character is battered or thrown thrashed, the pain hits you hard. And though Peter Berg inserts a fair share of sentimentality in the heat of the moments, especially at the end; it all feels real and never contrived. The performances, while nothing particurily special, also bring the things of beauty; primarily Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell who don't necessarily steal the show, but stand out amongst the cast in this powerfully executed action thriller. John Malkovich gets his fair share of ingenuity, but perhaps not the level of his main co-stars.
Deepwater Horizon is an authentic and terrifying disaster flick on the account of America's worst environmental disaster in history. Peter Berg successfully captures the sheer realism of the horrifying events and effective technical aspects, while offering some gripping performances by the cast.