Review: 'Deepwater Horizon' suffers from unfocused directing
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 107 minutes (~1.75 hours)
“Deepwater Horizon” is a biographical disaster movie based on the 2010 accident on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. It stars Mark Wahlberg (Mike Williams), Kurt Russell (Jimmy Harrell), John Malkovich (Donald Vidrine), Gina Rodriguez (Andrea Fleytas), Dylan O'Brien (Caleb Holloway), Kate Hudson (Felicia Williams), and Ethan Suplee (Jason Anderson). It is rated PG-13.
“Deepwater Horizon” probably started off as a short, interesting concept for a film — which somehow morphed into this monstrous beast that tried to achieve too many objectives without satisfying its core appeal. It suffers greatly for this lack of focus, and the result is a film with too little of what we want to see and too much of what we don’t.
Highlights
Grand spectacle of a disaster
“Deepwater Horizon” turns a story of an accidental explosion into an entertaining and watchable disaster movie. Yet it manages to do so tastefully, not by glorifying the fiery and gory aspects, but by adding a human element which gives it more emotional impact. It’s entertaining to watch, and there’s a purpose to all that destruction as well.
Makes an effort to explain the circumstances of the disaster
While the film could have just gone straight into the explosion itself (which is what audiences are here to view), it takes the time to explain the sequence of events (and negligence) which leads to the climatic explosion. This adds an informational aspect to the show without giving it the dryness of a documentary, and helps us add context to the event in real life.
Letdowns
Takes too long to get to the action
Unfortunately, the movie also pads out the exposition with unnecessary drama and conflict between the characters. For ease of reference, all the characters are quickly defined upon introduction, yet the film continues to try to add shades and layers to them which never really pay off. This results in a bloated beginning that adds unnecessary runtime to the final product.
Not enough time spent on the actual disaster
Ironically, it’s the actual explosion and the subsequent escape from the burning rig that whizzes by in a flash. It’s understandable that they couldn’t spend more time on the action sequences since they have a finite budget. But when juxtaposed against the boring beginning, the very spectacle that we came to see seems almost rushed.
Mark Wahlberg’s performance is irritating
Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) comes across as a plot device rather than a character. Wahlberg’s performance is mechanical and flat, which creates this odd effect where Mike seems like a smarmy know-it-all rather than a compassionate and competent worker. He’s too perfect, and without any flaws to balance his heroism, he seems like a Mary Sue on board an oil rig of male damsels-in-distress. If he’s so perfect, why didn’t he prevent the explosion in the first place?
“Deepwater Horizon” should have concentrated on its premise, the explosion, rather than veering into unwanted territory.
Should watch this if it’s free? OK.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? If you like disaster films.
Score: 2.5/5
“Deepwater Horizon” opens in cinemas:
- 29 September, 2016 (Singapore)
- 29 September, 2016 (Malaysia)
- 30 September, 2016 (Philippines)
Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.
