Deepwater Horizon

A straightforward script turned into a well-crafted catastrophic hell with some clichés, but an emotionally dignified, impressive ending. For me, this was the first disaster movie so intense that I don’t want to watch it again for the pleasure of quality filmmaking. As usual, Mark Wahlberg works well as the “suburban folk hero”, and Kurt Russell as the responsible boss of the group of young workers gives the movie’s best performance. And John Malkovich was in it for the money. I’d have preferred to see someone else, even a less famous actor, in his role of the unscrupulous businessman. (29/09/2016)

A conflicting mix of two completely incompatible approaches, coldly procedural movie with a Greengrass patina and biased "trade unionist" black and white in terms of characters. There are only two types of characters: hard-working good guys/heads of families, the only dirt on their character is grease (but it must be acknowledged that the Wahlberg / Russell duo manages this mode with honor) and viciously villainous white-collar management, which knows nothing and doesn't understand anything, casting menacing glances, counting every penny and making money from working rabble. Thanks to this polarization, it finds easy, unrealistic "who is to blame" solutions, which shamefully dulls the procedural line, which is otherwise presented excellently and credibly in itself, and is the film's strongest point. The final disaster (not catastrophic) third is appropriately impressive and properly explosive, but so frantically edited, when one shot follows the other even before the first ended, that this lack of clarity (probably intentional) almost make the viewer dull. On the whole, rather disappointing, from such a major event as the disaster at Deepwater. It would definitely have been possible to make more out of it than just a just a decent movie covering at the same time two different genres. (04/01/2017)

A catastrophic inferno that looks great. Peter Berg combined sweet sweeping camerawork and breathtaking explosions with a dignified memorial to the worker or his superiors who got killed or maimed for money, money, money. Criticism of contemporary corporate thinking isn’t really the crux of this movie, but, as we find out in the end, Malkovich is just the type of slippery bastard who is guilty on all counts, but who get away Scott-free. Carnahan’s targeted screenplay that concentrates on facts, Berg gives us the occasional visual gem: for instance, the shot of the American flag with the burning oil rig in the background, or the shot of Kate Hudson’s butt in panties (just hugging daddy Kurt), but the finale is a homage to all experts. Engineers, maintenance men, foremen, bosses who got their job on the basis of their experience and not from sitting on their asses. A very good job. I’m content. (06/10/2016)

The weakest Berg. The first hour is literally an ordeal to watch, I was flipping from side to side in boredom. A very unappealing plot that didn't interest me at all. Once something starts happening there is some decent action, but after 20 minutes it fizzles out again as the pathos sets in and boredom sets in again. No emotion, not very engaging, for me very dysfunctional and cold. Finished with problems. 50% (30/12/2016)

A decent survival drama based on real events, featuring plenty of explosions, oil, and also good acting and a decent script. The first half has an easy pacing, we get to know the characters to get at least a glimpse of them, while the second half is a frantic ride for life, with no sparing of action and heroism. And in short, as is often the case, when people have to make a decision at some crucial moment, they unfortunately often make the wrong one, as evidenced by this film, which faithfully reconstructs the biggest oil disaster in US history. (01/09/2017)