Deepwater Horizon

Director: Peter Berg

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Gina Rodriguez, John Malkovich, Kate Hudson

Year: 2016

Genre: Drama, thriller

Based on the true events of the horrific oil rig disaster from 2010, 'Deepwater Horizon' recounts the tragedy through Mike Williams' (Mark Wahlberg) perspective.



Mike Williams is an employee upon the oil rig known as 'Deepwater Horizon'. He is called back to work there, along with (Mr) Jimmy Harrell. They quickly discover that there has been a lack of safety precautions being enforced and the idea of starting to drill for water angers Jimmy, who insists it isn't safe and needs extra work. However, boss Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich) persists and orders the crew to start the large mechanical drill. As Jimmy had feared, this ends up in disaster as the oil rig becomes blocked and ends up exploding.

This film pays full respect to what happened and keeps a respectful tone throughout, wanting to accurately illustrate what happened. This, as well as being a humble option made by Berg, maintains the authenticity of the situation. One can fully understand the fear that people upon this rig would have felt. It also manages to depict the scale of the event, cutting away to wide shots of the burning rig which helps the audience appreciate what the crew members were in. This adds harrowing perspective to the event, again adding realism to the film.

The film does slack at several areas. Firstly, the writing for most of the first act feels quite poor, with complicated conversations that audiences unfamiliar with 'oil rig' terminology might not understand. Similarly, the cast somewhat rattle through their lines and is sometimes difficult to fully hear what they say. It feels as if the film is trying to set the scene as fast as it can, with any exposition crammed into a few minutes of quick-fire speech. Although this does help move the story forward, it does feel slightly awkward. Additionally, the crew members were very fond of the 's-word', using it for almost anything they say.

The acting is mediocre. Kurt Russell is probably the best out of all the cast, clearly putting a lot of effort into his portrayal. Mark Wahlberg is good and becomes the person whom the audience are rooting for, mainly because his background is explored the most. Most other characters don't seem to be as important, although the film does make the audience care for all the people in this tragic situation.

The second and third act improve on the writing and manage to create suspense and tension. It relieves this tension rapidly, portraying some shocking situations. The scale of the circumstance slowly increases as does the panic within the rig. By the time the film reaches the third act and its climax, the rig has been reduced to burning pandemonium.

At the end of the film, Berg does an excellent job in depicting the post-traumatic stress from the situation with his camera movement (which is also fairly successful throughout) and his editing. The very end is also a very humble and respectful thing of Berg to do, thoroughly depicting how this is a serious drama, portraying what happened as accurately as possible. The end does have a somber tone to it which obviously links with what the aftermath of this disaster would have had.

In terms of technicalities throughout the film, the cinematography is brilliant, with rarely a dully lit scene or with bland colours. The film stays vibrant throughout which is pleasant to look at. The shots are nicely positioned and the lighting is good.

Ultimately, this is a successful film which dutifully depicts what happened in the tragic event of 2010. There are admittedly some flaws; however, it is easy to overlook them because of how enjoyable and shocking this film is.

Verdict: 7/10