Realistic disaster movie

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2017)

Peter Berg has produced an excellent disaster movie that tells the story of the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. What is really extraordinary about this film is its sense of realism. You really do feel like this is how it must have been. There is nothing movie-ish, cheesy or off in this movie.
Enough time is take in the film to build the disaster up so we know what's happening. Woven into the account of this huge disaster are enough human interest stories to make you care somewhat about these people. This is a guy movie, so you get Wahlberg, Russell and the others doing their thing on the rig. Not really a chick flick at all.
Berg doesn't fail to point fingers, but I think more could have been said about oil rigs in general and the environmental disaster that ensued. Sure, you can blame individuals, or companies, but the real problem is much wider than that. WTF are we doing sucking up the earth's resources with rigs like this?
The patriotism aspect of it, albeit muted, was a little strange to me. Americans somehow can feel patriotic about a monumental disaster like this. Not sure what that's all about.