Made with good intentions, but doesn't really work

Rating: Null/10 (20 May 2017)

Although what I stated in my above summary line may make you think that I thought that "Deepwater Horizon" was a bad movie, that is actually not the case. It's more of a misguided movie instead. The movie can be basically divided into two halves, and each half doesn't really work.
The first half suffers from the fact that it is way too long and talky. Yes, some time should have been taken to set up the situation and try to educate the audience what is going on, but I don't think it had to be to the extent (about fifty minutes) that the movie thinks it had to run. As a result, it's often quite boring.
The second half of the movie (when the disaster starts) is a bit better - there is some excitement and suspense, though it suffers from the fact that a lot of the CGI special effects are not really all that convincing. Also, it ends a bit abruptly in some regards before the closing credits start to roll.
I think the movie may have worked better if its 107 minutes were divided into three equal length parts - the first part setting up the situation, the second part devoted to the unfolding disaster, and then a final part showing the characters adjusting after the disaster. But as it is, the movie is kind of misguided. As I said, it's not an awful movie - there is some genuine merit here and there, like some good acting and sympathetic characters - but the whole package is somewhat unsatisfying.