Deepwater Horizon review

Sorry for not posting any short reviews but homework and procrastination happened.

Deepwater Horizon is directed by Peter Berg and is the story of the disaster on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April 2010.

My delay actually helped me here. Since it's based on a true story of a terrible disaster, I wanted to think of a way to write this review honestly while being respectful. Being respectful to those involved and those who lost their live on the oil rig is something Peter Berg and writers Matthew Michael Carnahan and Michael Sand did very well. They could have made it a big effects extravaganza, but instead focused on the characters trying to survive the disaster. If they had gone for the former then it would be a case of literally profiting off of death, injury and disaster. Berg instead goes for a more human tale of surviving against the odds.

The film wouldn't work without people that you care about that you want to see survive. Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Gina Rodriguez and Dylan O'Brien all do a good job of making you care about these people and give good performances all round of people just doing their job trying to survive after BP wants the process rushed. Speaking of BP, John Malkovich gives a very good performance of the BP employee who you can tell doesn't really want to be there and doesn't care about the delicate process that must happen for the oil to be obtained.

Mark Wahlberg's Mike Williams is the main character. The film opens with him and mainly follows him. We see the most of his family out of the employees, and the scenes where he is with his wife and daughter at the beginning help to establish him as a good person. As I said, this is a human story of survival, and there is a very well done scene at the end of the survivors off the rig that ends the film in the only way I can think of that would work.

Peter Berg has found his niche in making based on true story films that show the triumph of the human spirit in the face of extreme conditions. Both this and Lone Survivor are well made tributes to the men and women who had to endure these adverse situations. He and Mark Wahlberg obviously work well together and I'm interested in seeing Patriot's Day when it's released.

And the sound during the scenes of the oil rig undergoing the oil spill is very well designed and used.

In short: Deepwater Horizon is a very well made tribute to those that had to endure these events with good performances, good direction and great sound design.