Thursday, October 6, 2016

Review of DEEPWATER HORIZON: Consequence of Cost-Cutting

October 6, 2016




Deepwater Horizon was an oil rig which drilled for British Petroleum (BP) in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the coast of Louisiana.  Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) was the Chief Electrician of the rig, working under the leadership of rig foreman Mr. Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell). They note some technical questions about the rig, but were pressured to proceed with the drilling operation by their employer BP, as represented by Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich). On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon exploded into flames.

The first fifteen minutes were practically just about Mike Williams having breakfast and saying goodbye to his wife (Kate Hudson) and daughter. There were telling warning signs from the start (daughter's school project, magenta-colored neck tie, bird strike on their helicopter). Then when they were on the rig already, you knew there was trouble abrew. It was a tense (but very slow) build-up to the climactic explosion we all knew would happen. The last thirty minutes was about the crew scrambling to escape their floating inferno, and we wait and see who will survive.

These veteran actors can do their roles blindfolded already. We've seen Wahlberg do blue-collar roles in "The Fighter" and "Transformers: Age of Extinction." Russell must have felt like he was on the set of "Backdraft" again. Malkovich is being vintage Malkovich. One look at that perpetual sneer on his face, you know he is up to no good. They were good and reliable performers as would be expected. Gina Rodriguez stood out as Andrea Fleytas, the only female member of the mostly faceless male crew. 

The centerpiece of this film is the rig explosion scene, which happens sometime just before the one-hour mark. It was really a spectacular sight to behold on the big screen. The mud and oil was forcefully gushing out like a geyser was already foretold of a much bigger impending doom. Director Peter Berg shot the major fire scene beginning from the bottom quickly going upward, as the flames exploded and engulfed the whole rig. That was an awesome scene. 

A lot of the fire scenes showing the rig fall apart and the crew running around in the flames were shot in close-up, which did not work too well for me. These scenes became generic scenes you'd see in any other fire disaster movie. You would not recognize who was running where, which negatively affected the drama of the situations, in contrast with wider shot panoramic scenes.

The film as a whole was engaging to watch as a disaster drama, technical jargon (like blowout preventor, negative pressure test, bladder effect, kill lines) notwithstanding. Its message about corporate greed was loud and clear. However, the film never went beyond the disaster itself, as it lacked emotional depth and connection. Furthermore, those essential facts that the BP executives got off easy in court and that this massive oil spill caused a major environmental disaster were only relegated to sentences flashed on screen at the end. 6/10. 


9 comments:

  1. It seems like there's lack on focus in the movie. They do keep us aware on the environment.

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  2. it's a shame how the outcome was relegated as sentences. i guess this is more of a drama than a documentary

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  3. This film reminds me of one old bollywood film based on mine workers. I think I will like this movie. Hopefully not too slow paced though.

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  4. I Love Mark Mark Wahlberg especially when he's all dirty and greasy. He looks more handsome and more believable in his role. Although I must admit I did like his perfomance in Rockstar before, he reminded me of his brother Donnie of New Kids on the Block. Hihi. Anyway, this movie, DeepWater Horizon looks intense! I would love to watch it until you mentioned about the slow build-up of the climactic explosion. I might get impatient. Hehehe.

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  5. I heard it is an average kind of story-line and now even your rating is not so good.

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  6. I am not watching this movie, my friends watched it and give the same feedback as well. It is not intense and emotional, just like a report of what happened.

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  7. My mom has this measure - within the first 30 mins if you don't feel like you're a part of the film, its isn't a story well told. When the 15 mins are wasted, well, the story is definitely not well narrated.

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  8. I think this film serves as horrible reminder of the environmental hazards we as humans have created for ourselves. I havent watched the movie but I know the the true story that it is based on. It is a sad reality and I hope that industries take this as a learning point.

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  9. I like films like this, it reminds us that we should conserved our natural resources. Most of the times, disasters like this are inflicted by people.

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