Review of Deepwater Horizon (2016) by James R — 23 Feb 2017

This movie starts out a bit slow, but its all a buildup to a story based on the 2010 event. We follow Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) the chief technician on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon which is marking out an oil well on behalf of BP.

Along with the rig supervisor Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) the two notice right off the bat after arriving that BP is cutting corners and the well was never properly tested to make sure it could withstand the correct pressure.

Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich) insists that the cause of the pressure isn't because the well is bad, but that theres a pocket of pressure that needs to be taken out. Well as everyone with the internet knows this isn't the case and all hell breaks lose.

The well blows out and soon the Deepwater Horizon is literally a burning hell. Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez) works with Jimmy while Mike and a young drill member named Caleb (Dylan O'Brien) race against time to get some working power backup to assist with the escape off the sinking and exploding vessel! The movie looks absolutely great.

The cinematography is well done and there's some really well done effects. I will say not all the special effects were 100% perfect. Certain CGI aspects near the end kinda remind you this is a movie.

Wahlberg is great here and so is Russell. The one person not used at all really was Mike's wife Felicia (Kate Hudson) she's basically off screen the whole time or just shown making phone calls.

It literally could have been anyone playing her role because it doesn't add much. It was an entertaining flick that definitely picks up from the hour in and on when the explosion starts. I would recommend giving this one a look if you haven't caught it yet.

It's a solid tale of some unsung heroes that helped more people get off that damn rig than what could have happened.