Deepwater Horizon - C

Quick Hit – The movie about one of the most harrowing events of the 2010s becomes nothing more than a flaming spectacle by the end of the film, and skimps on the overall emotional aspect.

​If you remember the BP oil scandal, what you probably don’t remember as much unless you were one of the families affected was the oil rig that caused it. This film sets out to do just that – besides a brief text over about the oil spill, the film focuses entirely upon the rig that exploded and the men that worked there. It stars Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell, with Kate Hudson showing up slightly as Wahlberg’s wife.

The writers (Matt Carnahan and Matt Sand) did a decent job at painting a picture of hardworking men that just get screwed by greedy oil executives. And while I don’t doubt that this is exactly the case (you hardly go a day without hearing about a billion dollar corporation that  

had some shady dealings), it’s hard to buy into everything that was wrong. That’s because in the States we are regulated beyond belief for worker safety, especially in industries that are considered more dangerous – like say, oil riggers. However, the men are portrayed very well by the actors on board the rig, and the costuming is good, as well as the makeup. These men are dirty and hardworking – it’s there across their faces.

Say what you will about Peter Berg, the director of Deepwater Horizon, but he does have a particular style. That style is a handheld camera that seems never to focus or frame pictures on what you expect him to. Instead, things as simple as dialogue are slightly off kilter, slightly out of frame, or slightly out of focus. It’s baffling to me, because it’s not like the man does found footage – he’s the director of this, Lone Survivor, Hancock, etc. At times, it can lend an exciting vitality to the film in a way that Steadicams rarely can – like for instance, the scenes on the oil rig once it starts to go up in flames.

Speaking of the rig, the thing is a special effects masterpiece – oh wait, it’s not a special effect at all. They freaking built a 75 foot tall rig off the coast of Lousiana… and then LIT IT ON FIRE!

Like… seriously. They did that. And the scene where Marky Mark is on fire – that’s real too. There were also giant screens that showed giant flames to increase the look and make it seem less like CGI to the actors. That is some serious commitment folks, and I had to call it out.
The best parts of the movie are the actors. It’s fun to watch Mark Wahlberg be so stoic, because you are almost always expecting him to crack a joke. But here, he stays reserved and holds back. Kurt Russell, is wasted in a lot of scenes here, though he does have an excellent scene with John Malkovich, who has continued to butcher accents. Malkovich is excellently skeezy though, single handedly convincing a room full of men to do something that they are set against, ultimately to their demise.

I think my biggest peeve with the movie is right at the end. It seemed like they just took images or notes from Captain Phillips and Sully (ironically both starring Hanks) and said, ok, we're going to do that now to make things more emotional. It just seemed like a giant cop-out to get the tears going prior to showing the images of the real men who died. Rest in Peace.

This film isn’t amazing, but it’s not terrible. I’m going to give it a solid “C”. Perfectly average.

For more on this film, check out IMDB.