Review of Deepwater Horizon (2016) by Leigh O — 10 Oct 2016

With a fairly cheesy trailer and Peter "Battleship" Berg at the helm, early signs weren't positive for this based-on-a-true-story disaster flick. But those negative expectations are blown out of the water by what is a fascinating and nerve-racking motion picture.

The first half is both a meet and greet with our ensemble cast and a quick (but enthralling) lesson on how a deep-sea oil rig operates, building up the camaraderie that forms our emotional connection to the story whilst also imparting just enough technical knowledge to help understand the severity of the forthcoming catastrophe.

Then, when the proverbial hits the fan at the halfway point, it's intense action and nail-biting tension for the remainder of the film; a series of unfortunate (and worse, avoidable) events that escalate the situation from bad to worse.

Berg shoots his fiery action with a claustrophobic immediacy that accentuates the truly frightening position in which the people aboard the rig find themselves, whilst also utilising wide shots (full of convincing CGI) to demonstrate the overwhelming scale of the calamity.

Tropes of the disaster flick subgenre - shaky cam, flickering lights, heroic moments, and sudden silence - are certainly present but they're utilised as judiciously as possible by Berg, although he still manages to sneak in a shot of an American flag softly flapping in the breeze.

There are no standouts amongst the cast, everyone from leading men Mark Whalberg and Kurt Russell to offsiders Gina Rodriguez and Dylan O'Brien offer solid performances, however John Malkovich has to battle with a completely underwritten and shallow role as the greedy BP company man.

At a relatively snappy 107 minutes, Deepwater Horizon is a pacey, insightful and thrilling recount of a deadly man-made mishap that should have never happened.