Sunday, October 9, 2016

Deepwater Horizon (2016) review (450th Post!)

Image result for Deepwater Horizon poster

In 2013, Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg teamed up for Lone Survivor. The film told the true story of ‘Operation Red Wings’, a 2005 joint military operation that went south as a group of Navy SEALs found themselves stuck right in the middle of enemy territory in Afghanistan. The film was a solid success with both critics and audiences and it seems as if Berg and Wahlberg have now become a new major collaborative duo when it comes to doing films based on real-life incidents and the heroes who were directly involved in them. Later this year, they have another project coming out in the form of Patriots Day, the story of the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. But before that, they have a different ‘true story’ project that comes out first with Deepwater Horizon. Deepwater Horizon tells the story of what became one of the largest environmental disasters in the history of the United States; the 2010 BP Oil Spill. It occurred on April 20th, 2010 on the semi-submersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Deepwater Horizon, when a buildup of methane gas caused a massive explosion. 11 workers lost their lives and a considerably large amount of oil, over 210 million gallons to be precise, was released into the Gulf of Mexico. Obviously this was a major incident when it occurred and sparked tons of controversies, particularly in regards to BP’s handling of the whole situation. But similar to what Michael Bay did with 13 Hours earlier this year, Berg doesn’t really delve into the political side of the incident. Instead, the film focuses in on the workers who were on the rig at the time of the explosion and their efforts to survive. And ultimately like Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon is an intense and visceral action/disaster thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout.

On April 20th, 2010, Chief Electronics Technician Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg), Dynamic Positioning Operator Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez), and Offshore Installation Manager Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) arrive at their place of operations, the oil rig Deepwater Horizon. However, it appears that things aren’t really going too well at the moment on the rig, which is currently situated at the Macondo Prospect oil field in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. As soon as they arrive, they notice another team leaving and learn that they hadn’t done the cement log test that they were supposed to be doing in order to analyze the integrity of the rig. As the crew begins to deal with increasing pressure from their ‘superiors’, namely BP Executives Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich) and Robert Kaluza (Brad Leland), in regards to them being ‘behind schedule’ on their drilling operations, Harrell manages to convince them to run tests on the rig in order to ensure that everything is running smoothly. The first test seems to imply impending disaster but when Vidrine requests a second test on a different section of the rig, that test goes much smoother. However, it turns out that the first test was indeed correct as a build-up of methane gas in the main pipe causes a massive explosion that engulfs the entire rig in fire, putting Williams, Fleytas, Harrell, and the rest of the 126-man crew in an extremely perilous situation as they try to escape from the burning rig.

One thing that I really have to give director Peter Berg credit for in regards to both this and Lone Survivor is that he does a really good job in regards to establishing a great sense of tension by means of the action. Seriously, this film is intense. In fact, sometimes I even wonder how this film managed to get by with a PG-13 rating considering some of its most intense moments, namely a scene in which Harrell pulls a John McClane from Die Hard by taking out a shard of glass from his foot (eck…). Well, to be more specific, all of the action in the film occurs in the second half following the explosion. The first half of the film is primarily build-up, as we see the main members of the crew head out onto the rig and deal with the problems that are starting to emerge on it. But once the second half rolls around and the big explosion occurs, it is non-stop tension throughout. As a few other critics have no doubt pointed out, this is practically like a horror film with the devastation of the explosion posing a very considerable and constant threat to the crew members. Because this is a PG-13 rated film, the action doesn’t get as brutal as it did in the R-rated Lone Survivor (save for the aforementioned ‘pulling glass out of foot’ scene) but you’re still on the edge of your seat throughout. I mean just seeing these people on a burning rig with nothing but fiery destruction going on in the background really gets to you, especially considering that this really did happen. In short, this film definitely pumps up the adrenaline during these scenes.

Now from what I hear, it appears as if this film has been a bit controversial amongst certain audiences, namely due to the fact that, as I alluded to earlier, it avoids going into the politics surrounding the incident as well as the consequences of the subsequent oil spill. Instead, the film focuses in on the explosion that started it all and the people who were on the rig at the time of the incident. But even with that said, sort of like Lone Survivor admittedly this film is more action-oriented than it is character-oriented. Ultimately the primary members of the crew that get the most focus/screen-time are Mike Williams, Andrea Fleytas, Jimmy Harrell, and Drill Crew Floorhand Caleb Holloway (Dylan O’Brien) and even then their characterizations are fairly simple at best; Williams is the main guy trying to get back to his family, Harrell is the wise veteran, Donald Vidrine is treated as an antagonist in the whole ordeal, etc. But overall this film actually does do a decent enough job when it comes to setting up the whole incident from their perspective. Because the film does take a considerable amount of time setting things up before the rig explosion, we as an audience are allowed to connect with Williams, Fleytas, Harrell, and their fellow crew-members. This is particularly evident by the cast’s solid camaraderie as well as the final moments of the film. I’m not spoiling anything when I say that if you’re familiar with this incident, you probably already know that the primary crew members do get rescued at the end. But the final scene in which Williams really starts to cope with everything that he just went through is quite powerful. In fact, I’d say that it’s one of the best bits of acting that Mark Wahlberg has ever done.

Well it seems as if Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg have become quite the team when it comes to doing films based around real-life heroes. This was the case with Lone Survivor, I bet it will be the case with Patriots Day, and it’s definitely the case with Deepwater Horizon. The primary similarity between this and Lone Survivor is that both films are quite intense in regards to the incidents that they depict. Sure pretty much all of the action in this film occurs in the second half but when it does, boy is it intense. If anything, Peter Berg definitely succeeds in terms of creating a truly visceral thriller. And while the film does focus more on the intense action than it does with its characters, just like Lone Survivor, at the very least it still does a pretty solid job at allowing us to connect with the workers on the oil rig, even if it’s mostly just centered around a select few crew members. But like Lone Survivor, it does end by respectfully paying tribute to those who lost their lives during the incident. Now if you’re going into this expecting to see anything in regards to what happened afterwards, whether it’s how BP ended up getting charged on 11 counts of manslaughter as a result of their ‘gross negligence’ or the effects that the subsequent oil spill had on the environment, prepare to be disappointed because you won’t find any of that here. However, as far as being an intense and visceral action thriller is concerned, the film definitely succeeds in that regard.  

Rating: 4/5


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