DIRECTOR: Peter
Berg LEAD CAST: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich,
Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien, Kate Hudson SCREENWRITER: Matthew Michael Carnahan,
Matthew Sand PRODUCER: Lorenzo di
Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian & David Womark
MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Steve Jablonsky GENRE: Action/Thriller/ Drama CINEMATOGRAPHER: Enrique Chediak DISTRIBUTOR: Summit Entertainment LOCATION: USA
RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes
Technical Assessment: 3
Moral Assessment: 3
Cinema Rating: V14
MTRCB Rating: PG
The film dramatizes the tragic events on board Deepwater
Horizon oilrig back in April of 2010. The narrative is told mostly from the
point-of-view of chief electronics technician Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg). He leaves his loving family behind and arrives
on the rig to find the drill site executives, Jimmy (Kurt Russel) and Don (John
Malkovich) on board arguing as the former wants to take precautions while the latter
pushes to cut corners in order for them to get back on schedule. As they are
already 43 days behind delivery, Mike and the rest of the crew are pressured to
proceed with the drilling in spite of test results that indicate unfavorable
conditions. With that, the situation goes worse and Mike finds himself having
to brave the dangers of explosion and shipwreck in order to rescue everyone
onboard.
Deepwater Horizon
succeeds to be an entertaining piece with the entire feature impressively
reenacting a significant event in the oilrig industry. The chosen thread to tell the story is focused
and easy to follow. One would not be lost in the film’s storytelling technique
which does not really go far from the familiar ship-of-fools plotline with a
twist of heroism towards the end. The
main character is given enough exposition arcs—family, love, friendship, work,
etc. so the dramatic heroics and sympathy is very much earned. Camera techniques and special effects are well
executed and the audience is really brought there in the event to experience
real terrors of the dangerous explosion. However, the film lacks in educating the real
outcome of the case—as to who’s really to blame or what could have been done to
avoid such tragedy from happening again. Were they pushed by too much capitalism? Or Greed? Those were just some angles to the themes that
the film could have explored but it chose to stay safe with the Hollywood
conventions of filmmaking.
At the forefront and
center of the film is a man who risked his own life and safety to save others. His convictions, aspirations and motivations
are clearly shown from the beginning and are consistent until the end. His big
“why” in life is his family – his wife and his daughter. He wants to remain alive for them. And he
believes everybody onboard is feeling the same—they all want to live and
survive for their “whys” in life. What’s
really impressive about Mark is his selflessness amidst the danger of his own
life. Human instinct would always go for
self-preservation, but here is a man who’s willing to endanger his own life for
the safety of others. He is not driven
by anything else than his genuine concern for others. The film actually focused on this part of the
story. Instead of thoroughly investigating into who’s to blame for the tragedy,
it opts to focus on one’s act of heroism. Tragedies such as Deepwater Horizon could bring out the best and the worst in people
but this film chose to focus on the best side of man: after the heroic rescue, the
survivors huddle together and pray the Our Father. For some strong language and heavy tragic
visuals, and given the highly technical milieu, the film may be too much for
the very young so CINEMA deems it as suited only to audiences 14 years old and
above.
