Deepwater Horizon (2016) - SPOILER-FREE Review

Editor’s Note: this is an old, unformatted, unedited review. The author’s opinion might not match the original thoughts written in this article.

Directed by: Peter Berg

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien, Kate Hudson

Runtime: 99 min

This is a true story based on one of the biggest man-made disasters ever: the explosion of an oil rig named Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico back in 2010.

It's an homage to every men and woman that helped save lives that day, as well as a way of remembering the ones that fell. Following Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) and Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell), we get to understand how everything went wrong and how devastating and frightening that disaster truly was.

True stories always have a special effect on me. If the director is able to capture the exact amount of reality needed for this kind of movies, then it becomes more than a film, but an experience that everyone should go through. Peter Berg does a brilliant job, I can't praise him enough.

Everything from the character development scenes from the first act (which is surprisingly interesting and captivating) to the amazing visuals and controlled pacing, is near perfection. He gives time for us to care enough about everyone so that when the "accident" starts, we truly care about the characters and we want them to survive.

I love that there's no time for us to breathe or have a more relaxed scene from the moment the mud kicks in because that's how they felt when they were in the middle of the disaster. I love that there's never a "Hollywood" scene, everything seems real and frightening. I love that the movie takes its time to explain how everything really went wrong, step-by-step, even if we aren't BP's scientists/engineers (there's a perfect analogy done with a Coke and a straw). I honestly love everything about Peter Berg's direction and I can't wait for Patriots Day (it seems that he's doing a "true story trilogy" with Mark Wahlberg ... great!).

Speaking of him, Mark Wahlberg is amazing in this film as well as Kurt Russell. Both of them have performances so heartfelt and REAL, they really give everything they have into this movie and that just makes it even more fantastic. John Malkovich is also present and I gotta say: he perfectly captures the arrogant, stupid, "bad guy" from the BP company. I hate him, he's a total asshole. If he truly was like that in real life, well ...

Deepwater Horizon deservedly honors the brave workers and heroes of that day. The story is detailed perfectly, the first act might be a little bit slow, but it compensates with the amount of characters that we care about by the beginning of the disaster. The performances are great (an Oscar for Wahlberg wouldn't be a surprise), the unbreathable pacing, from the moment of the first mud kick, is as real as it can be and Peter Berg's direction is flawless at all the other levels.

| A+ : 9.3-10 | A: 8.7-9.2 | A- : 8.0-8.6 | B+ : 7.3-7.9 | B: 6.7-7.2 | B- : 6.0-6.6 || C+ : 5.3-5.9 | C: 4.7-5.2 | C- : 4.0-4.6 | D+ : 3.3-3.9 | D: 2.7-3.2 | D- : 2.0-2.6 | F: 0-1.9 |