Review of Deepwater Horizon (2016) by Brandon W — 26 Nov 2016

Deepwater Horizon is directed by Peter Berg, and it stars Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, and John Malkovich in a biopic disaster film about a crew that tries to get the oil out for BP, and somehow the mud starts rising up too much with the pressure not holding itself up and just splatter everywhere, leading to an explosion.

I've heard about this news back at middle school about the aftermath of the oil spill and how it affected many animals, but until I heard about his movie, I've never heard of Deepwater Horizon, and about what happened in there that caused a disaster, which with Peter Berg as the director after making Lone Survivor, it's a good choice, and knowing how much I've enjoyed Lone Survivor, I actually like this better than that movie, and I didn't know it was possible.

The acting is pretty stellar as Mark Wahlberg is just great as he usually is, Kurt Russell is just giving his all in this, and John Malkovich acted a bit differently in terms of his roles, which I think is interesting to see.

The effects look fantastic, but I'm also glad that they don't focus a lot on it, making it the real show here, when really it's not the case for this movie, and the sound effects really stick out, but in a great way that with the special effects, makes you feel like you're right with them on this.

It's really tense, and you have no idea about whether any of the people inside the oil rig are going to survive as there's fire everywhere. There is some humor in it that's funny, but when the situation does come in, the movie takes itself seriously.

It does show itself about why we hated BP, and it does a great subtle job of giving a reason for it, but not in an immature way. The only thing I was worried about in the film, was the characterization.

Now while I enjoyed Lone Survivor very much, the characters were a bit thin and I could've got more out of their backstory so that the emotional impact actually lands all the way. At first, I thought that it's a bit better than Lone Survivor in terms of the main character, but the other characters are thin, but when I thought about it, the movie actually gives enough characterization for the way they talk, and personality wise, which makes it enough for wanting them to survive, thanks to the script by Matthew Sand and Matthew Michael Carnahan.

Deepwater Horizon is one of my favorite survivor movies, and is one of the best of that kind of that genre that I've seen since Gravity.