Director: Peter Berg
Writers: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Matthew Sand
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Gina Rodriguez, John Malkovich
Synopsis: A story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
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Disaster films always guarantee a jolly fun viewing. Whether they are poorly made because of the acting or because the set up just isn’t believable, disaster films are still enjoyable despite these flaws. However, we do get some disaster films that do happen to dazzle due to interesting film making styles and decent acting. And this summer’s Deepwater Horizon utilizes this plethora of tools to make for a thoroughly enjoyable disaster movie.
Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) is a lead technician on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon. A company that is in charge of oil rigs known simply as BP, arrives on the oil rig to run through some rudimentary tests on the rig. But, the company decides not to run any tests due to budgeting issues, the man in charge Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) is hesitant to drill without any of the tests having being ran. After a bit of persuading from the heads of the company, the rig team decides to run some simple tests and then begin drilling. The tests pass and the crew begins drilling. During drilling pressure inside of the drill begins to build and build until an insanely terrifying explosion that emits the Deepwater Horizon in flames.
The film’s visual style and visual abrasiveness is incredibly enjoyable. When we as an audience watch a disaster film, the one thing we truly hope for is that the visual effects are not poorly done. Deepwater Horizon utilizes our technological advancements from the most recent years to explode, combust, and even dazzle the audience through it’s intensity. That being said the film is intense, insanely intense. We do begin slow, and the slowness burns through the first half an hour of the movie, but once the initial explosion of oil onto the rig occurs, it is not stop action and intensity right up until about the last ten minutes. The intensity however does not distract from the overall enjoyment of the movie.
Another highlight is the acting. Personally, anytime Kurt Russell is on screen I get thoroughly excited. He manages to bring so much excitement and charisma to the screen, especially in his older appearances like The Thing and Escape from New York. Russell has managed to keep this charisma frequent and applicable throughout his older years. The movie does not exactly bring any high caliber acting, nothing on a best actor level work. However, the acting does help bring the realism to the scenario of the film, it manages to add a whole other element of enjoyment and a sense of “being there” as I like to put it.
One thing we have started to look for more in films is how well special effects are put together. Whether it be practical effect extravaganza like in George Miller’s Mad Max, or insane over the top computer generated effects like in the Marvel movies, we as audiences have become more aware of this and begin to judge them like we do at the other aspects in film. And the special effects in Deepwater Horizon manage to pass for quite the excelling job. The film appears as if it mixes both practical effects and CGI. The actors also do an excellent job at selling their reaction on the ferocity of the explosions. Recently, we’ve been seeing a lot of poorly done CGI with a copious number of low budget films trying to increase their production value with CGI, but Deepwater Horizon masters their use of CGI to create an even larger impact.
Deepwater Horizon is a fun, thrill ride of a disaster film. With the action and thrills soaring the movie to new heights, carried miraculously by the well done performances and solid screenplay, Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg deliver another box office hit once again.
Overall Grade: B-
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Hear our podcast review on Episode 189:
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