Rent Deepwater Horizon (2016)

An incredible, detailed & precision-directed drama about the devastating BP oil spill - Deepwater Horizon review by TB

After the incredible The Kingdom & Lone Survivor, Peter Berg & his go-to actor Mark Wahlberg once again went back to a real-world deeply traumatic incident; in this case, the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill. But this is far from a standard, schlocky & by-the-numbers docu-drama, transcending the genre & proving once again how incredible a talent Berg is.

The film follows Mike Williams, a real-life chief technician who worked on the Deepwater Horizon rig. As the film opens, there is massive pressure from the higher up management to start the drilling of the well, due to multiple delays. This extends to sending home early the safety team who should have tested key parts of the cement foundations of the well. After multiple disagreements with the management, the drilling starts but there is then a catastrophic failure & explosion, leading to one of the worst oil spills/natural disasters in history, as well as a desperate battle for the surviving crew on the rig.

For me, the main reason this film is a flat-out 5 star masterpiece is down to the preparation & research done on this film, which is then perfectly translated for us as the viewer. The filmmakers have here created a story with Paul Greengrass-levels of detail, guiding us flawlessly through the various processes & preparation of oil drilling, as well as making the people we meet feel genuinely real. There is nothing "forced" about anything you see on screen, like so many of these dramas have a habit of doing (effectively the writers/director going "Let's spend 3 minutes with some of the workers who will be in hell in a short while, to try & make the audience have a flicker of care for them.")

But if that last paragraph about detail puts you off, please don't let it. It is never boring, plus if you know anything about the barebones of the story (which you should do if you read the blurb before renting it,) then you actively want to know all this detail as the tension gradually gets ratcheted up. And an oil rig turns out to be an incredible place to place this level of tension. Every odd noise you hear, from a machine misfiring or the clunk of the drilling, makes you flinch & be on edge.

It also has to be said, in terms of production, just how well this film is shot & directed. After the success of Lone Survivor, Berg had a massive budget to play with, and every single penny is up there on screen: sets, stunts, colour palette, location, literally everything is like being on a functioning rig.

And finally, the performances are top-level as well. Wahlberg has really eased into his collaboration with Berg & his Mike Williams is a salt-of-the-earth decent & brave man, who finds himself thrown into the most horrific & traumatic situation imaginable, not forgotting that all the time he & his colleagues are also on top of a potential fireball. Kurt Russell is also outstanding, his character Mr Jimmy the other moral core at the heart of this film.

This is a towering triumph, combining all the essential elements of filmmaking, but perfectly translated to the screen. As a final note, if you are interested to find out more, especially about the battle to bring this film to screen, there are some excellent articles recounting this backstage drama.

Very good film - Deepwater Horizon review by RT

A well acted and directed action film. The action sequences were brilliantly staged and very realistic.

Only grouse was some of the actors' verbal speeches were distorted by the colloquial Southen accents which were hard to understand sometimes.Nevertheless, a terrific film. I was very satisfied by the overall quality of the production

Deepwater Horizon - Deepwater Horizon review by JR

This is an excellent movie based on real events.All the cast are great especially Mark Wallberg effects are top notch.Well worth seeing.

Fun for AV systems - Deepwater Horizon review by MS

A suprisngly humanistic approach to a man-made disaster. Mainstream has a tendency to veer on the patriotic hero. Whilst this does contain ingredients of the sort, it does focus on their experiences, along with a Malkovick villain to blame.

Brilliant Film! - Deepwater Horizon review by DA

Great film. Speech distorted at times. The true life disaster is down to very poor management. Schlumberger were the main culprits - plus the rig managers who should have checked the about the concrete!!

Really good sadly true - Deepwater Horizon review by CP Customer

Really good story sadly true and based on the dreadful BP oil rig explosion with the loss of life and the polluting of the sea and coastline. Very well name with great acting from all.

Vivid retelling of oil rig explosion - Deepwater Horizon review by Alphaville

Real-life disaster becomes action movie. A docbuster. A film of two halves: the build-up and the explosion. The first half is all oil rig banter and technical jargon (subtitles will help). The second half is a cgi extravaganza of explosions and pyrotechnics.

The whole oil rig and fire above the base is cgi. It’s brilliantly done by ILM (check out the excellent DVD extras) but you either revel in this sort of thing or you don’t. The search for authenticity makes the action confusing, as it undoubtedly was in the real-life incident on which the film is based. Shaky hand-held camerawork doesn’t help.

It’s hard to take the politicking seriously when the BP man in charge is played by supercilious John Malkovich doing his usual hammy acting. It’s also hard to feel any emotional ties to the men who died as we never get to know them. If this were fiction they’d be viewed as expendables extras, which induces a feeling of guilt in the viewer in the face of the real-life tragedy. As for the melodramatic ending, you’ll cringe at the religious overtones and excruciating soundtrack ballad.

Nevertheless, this must have been a hard directorial gig to pull off. As Peter Berg showed in Lone Survivor, he’s at his best when it comes to visceral filmmaking and there’s plenty here to keep pyromaniacs happy. Others may find it all a bit samey. Check out the DVD extras for some fascinating behind-the-scenes-footage.