Deepwater Horizon (2016) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Peter Berg

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Kate Hudson, Ethan Suplee, Gina Rodriguez

Deepwater Horizon reminds me of movies like The Towering Inferno, which was made when disaster movies were in their heyday.   It's hard not to be impressed with Deepwater Horizon's technical achievements while lamenting that once the explosion happens, the movie becomes less interesting when it should be running at full throttle.   Titanic managed to remain hypnotic even after the ship struck the iceberg.   Deepwater Horizon's best scenes all occur before the explosion aboard an oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico which killed eleven people and caused one of the worst environmental crises in history.  

If you consider how the rig quickly morphed into a ball of fire, it is astounding only eleven people died.  Many more were injured, and in the epilogue we learn some of the workers never returned to the oil industry in any capacity.   I can't say I blame them.    Deepwater Horizon begins much like Berg's Patriots' Day which like many Berg films also starred Mark Wahlberg.   It's a seemingly Ordinary Day as Mike Williams (Wahlberg) is awakened by his alarm and after some hanky panky with his wife Felicia (Hudson), he heads off to a three-week stint aboard the Deepwater Horizon.   Joining him is the rig's senior manager Jimmy Harrell (Russell), who questions why BP executives are accompanying him on the helicopter out to the rig and why needed rig repairs aren't being done.

Jimmy and Mike soon encounter Donald Vidrine (Malkovich), an arrogant executive who expertly cuts corners and insists the rig will run just fine even after a shaky pressure test.   I think Malkovich is working a Southern accent here, but he comes off sounding like he's doing an impression of legendary wrestler "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.   Donald's job is to ensure the bottom line, and that doesn't much matter once mud dredged up from the safety test backs up and explodes, followed by more fiery explosions which engulf the rig in a hellish inferno.

Berg nicely fills the early scenes with dread and suspense.   We know where all of this is leading, because Deepwater Horizon is based on a true story, but the second half of the movie has Wahlberg and Russell navigating their way through fiery hallways to lead injured co-workers to safety.    This does not have the impact it should, mainly because we only know these people superficially.   When they're all covered in mud and blood in the gloom of night, it's difficult to determine who's who.   Felicia is relegated to the sidelines, where she frantically calls the coast guard after her video chat connection with Mike zaps out and can do little more than pray for her husband's safety as the gravity of the situation unfolds.

Deepwater Horizon is well-paced and technically superior, which is standard in Peter Berg action films.   But it plays like a tale of two halves, with a far more engrossing buildup giving way to a lesser payoff after the rig explodes.   Usually, this works the other way around.