Deepwater Horizon - directed by Peter Berg
Deepwater Horizon was an oil rig that famously came to grief in 2010 and spilled a huge amount of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
It stands as the worst oil accident in US history.
While leaking oil all over the ocean is less than ideal the cost in human life was considerably more so.
Director Peter Berg re-unites with his "Lone Survivor" star Mark Wahlberg to tell the based on real event story of what happened aboard the Deepwater Horizon.
The pair seem to enjoy working together and have "Patriots Day" lined up for release next year.
So far so good for the pairing as "Deepwater Horizon" follows "Lone Survivor" in being a very well made and highly enjoyable real life story.
The first half of this film is very deliberately paced which isn't to say that little happens.
I was impressed by how seamlessly the film slips in a whole bunch of exposition into the first hour.
A lot of it is technical stuff about how the oil rig works and what sorts of dangers the men aboard face.
This information is imparted as part of the process of introducing characters and it is super slickly done.
Humour is utilised in just the right amount during this section too and before I knew what was happening I had met about a dozen characters, knew what they did and also had a decent grip on the Deepwater Horizon' purpose.
Even the cutesy 'give me those eyes' from the trailer that made me grimace works pretty well as a device for defining the nature of the relationship between Mark Wahlberg's Mike Williams and his wife Felicia (Kate Hudson).
I have mixed feelings about Hudson generally but she is very good here and the chemistry between her and Wahlberg is spot on.
(I didn't connect Hudson to co-star Kurt Russell until the very end but of course he is in fact her real life Stepfather)
With all of the pieces in place the film kicks into high gear as everything turns to custard and the rig starts to react badly to a huge gush of seawater sending up drilling mud and methane gas.
The resulting explosion is the just the start of the chaos.
The second half of the film is quite a piece of work.
The visual effects are totally convincing and Berg shows yet again that he is superb at directing action.
The hefty budget reportedly in the region of $120,000,000 looks to have largely been utilised in bring to life the rig and engulfing it in flames and pounding it with explosions.
This is very definitely a hell on earth kind of representation - all dirt, oil, sweat and flames as pieces of steel and bolts are torn from the structure and fired around like rounds of ammunition.
Effectively the story is one of a huge fire and explosions with a bunch of people trying to get the hell off a floating structure and it is this simplicity that is at once a strength and a weakness.
I felt that the incident itself was drawn out in both the lead up and the actual event and that is a shame because the first half hour is really damned good.
It doesn't help that the opening audio as the studio logos come up effectively defuses some of the tension that Berg tries (with some success) to build up by pretty much revealing the fates of at least one character.
Still- the execution of the actual disaster is very, very good indeed.
Another thing that works is the emotional payoff in the final moments.
Credit again to the scripting and performances that created those great moments in the first half between Wahlberg and Hudson and Wahlberg and Russell, John Malkovich and Dylan O'Brien.
Ultimately there is an awful lot more here that works than doesn't and this is another very good credit to Peter Bergs growing resume as director.
I know that he gets grief for "Battleship" but I liked that movie.
I also liked "The Kingdom" a whole heap too and out and out loved "Lone Survivor".
"Deepwater Horizon" sits somewhere between the two for me.
It may not be as tense and compelling as Berg's Navy Seal story but it is very well directed, nicely acted and a genuinely exciting.
It also serves as a respectful tribute to the men who lost their lives on the Deepwater Horizon.
These men are shown in photographs at the very end of the film - definitely stay for this and definitely see this film - it is well worth your time.
RATING: 80 / 100
CONCLUSION: An extraordinarily well made movie with great visual effects, some fine performances and a script that grips immediately with subtle humour, great character moments and the threat of disaster looming all the while.
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson, Gina Rodriguez, John Malkovich, Dylan O'Brien, Stella Allen, Ethan Suplee, Douglas M Griffin, Peter Berg, James DuMont, Joe Chrest, Brad Leland
Screenplay: Matthew Sand & Matthew Michael Carnahan
Music Score by: Steve Jablonsky
Cinematography: Enrique Chediak
Cinematography: Enrique Chediak
Edited by: Gabriel Fleming & Colby Parker Jr
Running Time: 107 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Some low level profanity, wound gore
Running Time: 107 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Some low level profanity, wound gore
Deepwater Horizon was an oil rig that famously came to grief in 2010 and spilled a huge amount of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
It stands as the worst oil accident in US history.
While leaking oil all over the ocean is less than ideal the cost in human life was considerably more so.
Director Peter Berg re-unites with his "Lone Survivor" star Mark Wahlberg to tell the based on real event story of what happened aboard the Deepwater Horizon.
The pair seem to enjoy working together and have "Patriots Day" lined up for release next year.
So far so good for the pairing as "Deepwater Horizon" follows "Lone Survivor" in being a very well made and highly enjoyable real life story.
The first half of this film is very deliberately paced which isn't to say that little happens.
I was impressed by how seamlessly the film slips in a whole bunch of exposition into the first hour.
A lot of it is technical stuff about how the oil rig works and what sorts of dangers the men aboard face.
This information is imparted as part of the process of introducing characters and it is super slickly done.
Humour is utilised in just the right amount during this section too and before I knew what was happening I had met about a dozen characters, knew what they did and also had a decent grip on the Deepwater Horizon' purpose.
Even the cutesy 'give me those eyes' from the trailer that made me grimace works pretty well as a device for defining the nature of the relationship between Mark Wahlberg's Mike Williams and his wife Felicia (Kate Hudson).
I have mixed feelings about Hudson generally but she is very good here and the chemistry between her and Wahlberg is spot on.
(I didn't connect Hudson to co-star Kurt Russell until the very end but of course he is in fact her real life Stepfather)
 |
| Wahlberg with the real life Mike, Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson and Dylan O'Brien |
The resulting explosion is the just the start of the chaos.
The second half of the film is quite a piece of work.
The visual effects are totally convincing and Berg shows yet again that he is superb at directing action.
The hefty budget reportedly in the region of $120,000,000 looks to have largely been utilised in bring to life the rig and engulfing it in flames and pounding it with explosions.
This is very definitely a hell on earth kind of representation - all dirt, oil, sweat and flames as pieces of steel and bolts are torn from the structure and fired around like rounds of ammunition.
Effectively the story is one of a huge fire and explosions with a bunch of people trying to get the hell off a floating structure and it is this simplicity that is at once a strength and a weakness.
I felt that the incident itself was drawn out in both the lead up and the actual event and that is a shame because the first half hour is really damned good.
It doesn't help that the opening audio as the studio logos come up effectively defuses some of the tension that Berg tries (with some success) to build up by pretty much revealing the fates of at least one character.
Still- the execution of the actual disaster is very, very good indeed.
Another thing that works is the emotional payoff in the final moments.
Credit again to the scripting and performances that created those great moments in the first half between Wahlberg and Hudson and Wahlberg and Russell, John Malkovich and Dylan O'Brien.
 |
| Left-Right - Wahlberg, the Deepwater Horizon, Gina Rodriguez and the effects rig |
I know that he gets grief for "Battleship" but I liked that movie.
I also liked "The Kingdom" a whole heap too and out and out loved "Lone Survivor".
"Deepwater Horizon" sits somewhere between the two for me.
It may not be as tense and compelling as Berg's Navy Seal story but it is very well directed, nicely acted and a genuinely exciting.
It also serves as a respectful tribute to the men who lost their lives on the Deepwater Horizon.
These men are shown in photographs at the very end of the film - definitely stay for this and definitely see this film - it is well worth your time.
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