Horizonte Profundo: Desastre no Golfo

Deepwater Horizon is the first of two Peter Berg directed films this year, and if Patriots Day is anywhere near as good as this film we could be looking at quite a few nominations for Berg come February.

Deepwater Horizon tells the story of the crew members of the rig of the same name in April 2010, when the largest oil spill in U.S. history began. Berg is always a guy to count on with this type of harrowing true story. He has the skills of an action film director while also having the delicate hand for an emotionally powerful touch. And much like the recently released 'Sully', this film is a strong tale about the power of the human spirit.

Putting Battleship aside, Berg has always had a knack for directing high intensity sequences of trauma and thrills. Even taking that note into a smaller scale with Friday Night Lights, Berg is great at managing to balance intensity and emotion. Deepwater Horizon is perhaps his biggest scale film thus far, but it's also incredibly personal as well. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Gina Rodriguez, and Kate Hudson. All of them get the opportunity to act in small intimate moments as well as physically demanding scenes.

Usually, it's those small moments that bring the emotions out of me, and that was Kate Hudson here. I feel like she hasn't gotten a lot to do since her breakout with Almost Famous, but this may be the best she's been since. She plays Wahlberg's wife, and it's simply her reactions to the devastation on the oil rig while she's at home, that really got to me. Powerful stuff.

With all that said, sometimes the high octane thrills feel to be heightened just for heightening certain situations. Berg never loses sight of the end goal here, but some 'action'-ish scenes are almost a little too much, considering how contained this story feels. It doesn't take you out of the film, but you will feel like it could have been handled differently.

Like Berg's previous film, Lone Survivor, it does a nice job of honoring those who died at the rig and the families severely affected by the tragedy. It's a powerful film with gripping performances from Hudson and the rest of the cast that will likely lead it right into the awards season come winter time.

+Berg's delicate touch

+Hudson

+Devastating

-Some heightened moments

8.6/10

In April of 2010, an offshore drilling rig named Deepwater Horizon exploded resulting in the worst oil spill in U. S. History. If you've read my previous reviews about Eddie the Eagle, Steve Jobs, The Big Short and Spotlight, you know that it's easy to get caught up in the details of how much of the story based on actual events really happened and how much was embellished or altered to make a Hollywood movie. Along the way, I have made a decision to do no research into the facts of the real-life story and just focus solely on the movie itself. I mean, the movie makes no claims to be a historically accurate documentary, so I shouldn't hold it to those standards. And this blog isn't about movies being historically accurate when they don't necessarily claim to be. It's based on two factors: how accurately the movie is portrayed by its preview, and the likelihood of the movie making it to my home collection. With that in mind, here's my review:

Mark Wahlberg plays Mike Williams who works on the drilling rig the Deepwater Horizon. But that's the third thing we learn about Williams from the preview. He's a husband and a father first. He says goodbye to his family before being flown by helicopter with his crew to the rig. All his daughter wants is a dinosaur fossil. All his wife (Kate Hudson) wants is for him to return safely. Once aboard the rig, an executive named Vidrine (John Malkovich) and others from British Petroleum are more than anxious to commence with drilling. They skip a concrete test and excuse a failed system test. They are already 43 days behind and over budget and will do whatever it takes to not fall further behind despite Mister Jimmy's (Kurt Russell) stern objections. They should have listened to Mister Jimmy because everyone's worst nightmares explode into reality.

Deepwater Horizon marks the reunion of Director Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg who collaborated on Lone Survivor three years ago. It was nominated for Oscars for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for best stunt team performance. While Wahlberg has been nominated for his roles in The Fighter and The Departed, he's one of those reliable actors who makes smart choices. If you've liked one thing Wahlberg has done, odds are,you'll like them all. Most of them won't get nominated for awards, but they will all be entertaining. Berg is in the same category. He's directed some really good movies (Lone Survivor, Battleship, Hancock,The Kingdom), but none that would really break into a critic's top 50 list. Like Wahlberg, if you enjoyed one of Berg's movies, odds are, you'll at least feel you got your money's worth with all of them.

From the preview, I said that Deepwater Horizon looked action-packed and visually stunning, but that it also looked predictable with pieces of the rig falling apart or blowing up blocking every turn as Williams and the survivors try to find a way to escape. I anticipated 3 Stars but I'm bumping that up to 4.0 Stars. It was exactly as the preview said it would be and it was absolutely predictable; however, even though you knew what was coming, it was so perfectly executed, it still shocked you. From the beginning, there was no doubt about the fate of the rig as not-so-subtle clues were dropped along the way from his daughter's school presentation, to the tie of the executive, to the helicopter ride to the rig. You knew it was going to happen, but when it did, it choked the breath right out of you and didn't give it back until the very end of the movie. It is worth the money to watch in theatres. Though I'm not sure I'll be owning Deepwater Horizon, I will be watching it again.

Peter Berg makes movies, but he also knows a lot about deep-water oil exploration. He'd have to, considering how complicated this dangerous activity is, and how well he handled those complexities and portrayed that danger in his film. Berg directed "Deepwater Horizon" (PG-13, 1:47), the dramatization of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion which killed 11 people and resulted in the largest oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history. A combination of faulty equipment and human error caused the disaster. Methane gas escaping up the rig's pipes enveloped it, ignited and eventually consumed the rig, which burned until sinking into the ocean 36 hours after the initial explosion. The titular rig's owner, Transocean, and its client, BP, traded accusations of wrongdoing for years, while various cases worked their way through the courts – and a lengthy environmental clean-up of the gulf coast proceeded. No one went to jail, but, according to Wikipedia, "To date BP's cost for the clean-up, environmental and economic damages and penalties has reached $54bn." But that's all scientific and industrial detail. This film is mainly a story about people.

Berg (with his screenwriters, Matthew Michael Carnahan and Michael Sand) personalizes the story by focusing on a few key people involved in the events depicted. Master electrician Mike Williams (played by Mark Wahlberg, who Berg also directed in 2013's "Lone Survivor") is a devoted family man with a loving wife (Kate Hudson) and a sweet and precocious daughter (Stella Allen), who's very proud of her dad and his job. Radio operator Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez) is a young, single woman who has a steady boyfriend and loves her vintage Ford Mustang, even if she does have trouble keeping it running. Both Mike and Andrea work for "Mr. Jimmy" (Kurt Russell, appearing on film for the first time with Hudson, who is his adopted daughter) is the caring, but tough and diligent Transocean foreman on Deepwater Horizon, who often finds himself at odds with BP's corporate representatives on the oil rig.

As Mr. Jimmy and his crew arrive at the rig for their three-week-long turn on board, it's apparent that the departing shift (including Berg, in a cameo role, in which he briefly talks with Russell's character) hasn't done their due diligence in taking care of operation and safety concerns on the rig. While entertaining two BP executives who are visiting Deepwater Horizon (and who present him with a safety award during a brief ceremony), Mr. Jimmy locks horns with BP liaison Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich). Mr. Jimmy insists on a test of the pressure entering the well from beneath the ocean floor. When the test gives conflicting results and the results of an alternate follow-up test complicates the situation further, the stage is set for disaster. The rest of the film depicts that disaster with astonishing detail and realism as everyone on that rig fights for survival and for the goal of getting back safely to their families.

"Deepwater Horizon" is a fascinating, entertaining and inspiring take on a real-life disaster. We get good character development and a detailed behind-the-scenes look at the considerations, disagreements and actions that led up to the catastrophic explosion, but there are a couple problems with all that. Berg does a good job with a combination of dialog, on-screen verbiage and impressive visuals to help us understand the dynamics at play, but it almost seems like too much, and the conversations, with a lot of technical jargon, characters talking over each other and seeming to mumble their lines, and some with various southern accents and some without, combine to make it difficult to tune one's ear to the dialog and understand everything that's being said. However, the main point of this movie is the survival story. Berg had a realistic version of the rig built (including many working components) for shooting. His attention to detail – in the set and in the film's visual effects is nothing short of remarkable. What's more, we care about the characters and the danger they're in feels real. For excellent acting, a well-developed story and incredible visuals, you should put this film on your horizon. "B+"

I read the reviews before I watched it, Generally, an over 7 is usually a decent movie and you won't be disappointed.

I like the technology and the Rig speak, which for guys that work with their hands, just sounds right to the ear.

These guys did a good job of portraying a Gulf of Mexico type Roughneck...Having spent 6 months in Biloxi, you meet the type...A quiet dignity and hellraisers when they're off...You have to respect the intricacies of the work these men do to keep us moving...

I really liked Malkovich's role, he put some meat on that bone; :)...Of course Wahlberg is good in his role too...Nice to see Kurt keeping up too...

If you're looking for subtlety and nuance, this is NOT the type of movie you should watch...If you enjoy watching men risk their lives to serve the nation's energy requirements and the sacrifices and sometimes the ultimate sacrifices, all in the name of the job; you'll be glad you saw it...

Respect to all whose job can kill you...Stay safe.

A solid disaster flick with some good production and acting, the first half is a little too slow for my taste but after the catastrophe strikes Deepwater Horizon rolls on like a beast.