Review: Deepwater Horizon

Dramatisation of the real-life offshore drilling rig disaster in 2010, where an explosion created the biggest oil spill in U.S. history in the Gulf of Mexico. Mark Wahlberg (as a Chief Electronics Technician), Kurt Russell (as a veteran installation/operations manager on the rig), and Gina Rodriguez are among the employees, with John Malkovich playing a frankly dismissive BP executive whose job in the film is to be stubbornly wrong about everything and cut corners wherever possible. Kate Hudson appears briefly as Wahlberg’s worried wife back home.

I was a bit surprised to find this 2016 true-life disaster flick to be much more “China Syndrome” docudrama in approach. I was expecting a more standard disaster flick, having not known that it was based on the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster going in to the film (much as I had indeed seen the news story at the time, like everyone no doubt). Directed by Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights”, “Lone Survivor”, “Battleship”), it takes a good goddamn while for things to really get going (with too much technically jargon for my idiot brain), but particularly in the second half it proves to be gripping and truly frightening stuff.

Pissed off, crusty old Kurt Russell (choosing the worst time to take a shower) is one of my favourite things in cinema, and Mark Wahlberg is an easy sell in this kind of working class man’s man environment. It’s an excellent, matter-of-fact turn by the former Marky Mark. I can’t stand seeing advertisements for “Jane the Virgin” let alone watching it, but Gina Rodriguez clearly has charisma, as does Russell’s step-daughter Kate Hudson, though the latter once again has failed to find the best vehicle for herself. She’s barely in the film and given little to do, nicely as she nonetheless does it. John Malkovich is doing rock-solid work here as a Creole-accented BP executive who is basically this film’s version of that arsehole on the Titanic who wanted it to go faster no matter what (Or perhaps Richard Chamberlain in “The Towering Inferno”). The veteran villain deserves credit for not overplaying such a part, as I imagine it would’ve been tempting.

Once the disaster hits, it’s very well-portrayed on screen by Mr. Berg, who also clearly sees a lot of quiet heroism in the characters. I have no idea who would want to do this kind of job for a living, but you’ve surely got to admire them as it must take a lot of guts. You also have to wonder how anyone actually survived this nightmare. I wouldn’t want to go on the amusement park ride of this film, should someone be sick enough to exploit the real-life disaster in such a way. Berg cinematographer Enrique Chediak (“127 Hours”, “Turistas”) also deserve credit for eschewing shaky-cam nonsense for a more straightforward, nicely shot aesthetic approach. I just wish it didn’t take so damn long for the fit to hit the shan. It gets better as it goes along, but isn’t quite as satisfying as I had hoped, mostly because of that pacing issue.

Although slow-moving, this real-life disaster film ultimately keeps you watching and keeps you hooked for its length. Good performances throughout too, but at the end of the day it’s nothing terribly memorable. A documentary on the same subject would probably be just as compelling as this, if not even more. The screenplay is by Matthew Michael Carnahan (“State of Play”, “Lions for Lambs”, “World War Z”) and Matthew Sand (the occasionally splat-tacular “Ninja Assassin”).

Rating: B-