JoltBlog

“Deepwater Horizon” is essentially a two-act piece: “Act 1: Meet the Crew,” “Act 2: Watch the Disaster.” So, we get a little bit of time with Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) and his family, including wife Felicia (Kate Hudson), before he heads off to work at his admittedly very unusual job an oil-drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. We meet one of the elder statesmen of the rig, “Mr. Jimmy” (Kurt Russell) and one of its younger employees, Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez). Of course, there are also a few nefarious BP executives floating around, including the remarkably villainous Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich).

The first half of “Deepwater Horizon” is filled with a surprising degree of tech speech—lots of conversations about PSI and arguments over the horrendous state of the equipment on the rig. There’s something admirable about getting the technical details right in a film like this one, but it makes for a very dry set-up. We don’t really feel like we’re getting to know the characters in any memorable way outside of what they were doing the day everything went wrong. When things get intense later on, our connection to them isn't bigger than a standard hope for their survival. One never feels like they’re watching Mike and Mr. Jimmy try to get people to safety as much as watching Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell navigate some impressive stunt work.

And it is impressive. When things go wrong on the Deepwater Horizon, it’s not a minor problem—it is really a vision of Hell with water, mud, oil and eventually fire literally everywhere. To be honest, the fact that anyone survived is pretty remarkable, and Berg and his technical team know how to make an effective disaster movie that will pin viewers to their seats long enough that they may more easily forgive the film’s flaws. Fires boom, metal creaks and bodies get tossed around in terrifying ways. It’s impressive, but ultimately hollow. “Deepwater Horizon” too often feels like a relative of “Battleship” in that it’s more concerned with set pieces and action blockbuster stunt work than it is with the people involved. It’s also a film that really muddles the geography and timing of what happened and when. The best section of the movie is when the explosion first happens, when water and mud spray the chamber, and one can still sense committed men trying to fix it before it goes horribly wrong. After they’re unable to do that, it’s too often an indistinct blur of noise and fire.

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