Deepwater Horizon

This review may contain spoilers!

If you want to see one of the best film casts of the year then this is a must. I would give Deepwater Horizon a 9/10.

These days it's so easy for a biopic to come off as boring, we're getting more and more of them so that stands to reason. What Deepwater Horizon provides is an intense, empathetic story about a group of characters you really care for having to contend with one of the most striking man-made disasters in US history. There's a great balance when it comes to the pacing of this film; a well constructed build up to the ultimate disaster during which characters are fleshed out and a great atmosphere is set. This careful set up leads to a debilitating portrayal of the disaster itself, you are on the edge of your seat for this event throughout and by the end of the film you'll never want to get your petrol from a BP oil pump ever again. The cinematography really gives an edge to the disaster that is biblical in it's proportions; I always liked how much movement there was in dialogue scenes which allowed for a lot more flow. The special effects worked a charm, particularly the explosions upon the oil rig itself. There wasn't so much a score here that I wanted to praise but instead the sound editing is really worth mentioning, everything is set up so that you feel barraged by this avalanche of noise that only escalates as things become worse.

Kurt Russell, who played Jimmy Harrell, is one of the standout performances in this film; Russell provides an unrelenting figure who will do whatever it takes to ensure the safety and security of his workers upon the rig. Gina Rodriguez, who played Andrea Fleytas, is an actress that I feel I'm gonna enjoy immensely as she gets even more roles over the next few years; whether it's talking shop with Wahlberg or freaking out about jumping to potential safety Rodriguez proves why she's one of the stars of this film. John Malkovich, who played Vidrine, makes for one hell of an antagonist; his ignorant and smug BP executive works wonders for creating a deplorable figure to blame by the film's end. J.D. Evermore and Ethan Suplee, who played Dewey A. Revette and Jason Anderson respectively, were great supporting cast; I liked the strong comedic chemistry they brought to their introduction and Suplee's ability to convey the mounting threat shows his skill as a performer. Kate Hudson, who played Felicia, has a ton of chemistry with Wahlberg and crafts a good relationship at the heart of this film; Hudson makes the character indisputably her own and puts a lot of energy and humour into the performance.

However the best performance came from Mark Wahlberg, who played Mike Williams. Wahlberg has proven many times by now they he can absolutely lead a film as the protagonist; yet I would go so far as to say that this film is Wahlberg's greatest performance yet. As per usual he creates a fun atmosphere amongst the rest of the cast, this cements character relationships while also providing a light and comedic tone to kick the film off. However his intensity and drive to save as many lives as possible when the disaster hits makes him quite an admirable hero. Yet it's the scene in which he tries to make Andrea jump off the rig with him that really stands out; in this moment any walls his character might have had are stripped away and you see a raw emotional performance that is one of the best this year.

This film only suffers when it plays into the hands of the stereotypical disaster film formula too much, and while this is an amazing film it doesn't really go out of it's way to break formula if it can help it. The excessive supporting cast is also a big problem, you're not really sure who is going to be relevant and who isn't; this results in some scenes losing their impact because you forget how where the cast member was last introduced.

Douglas M. Griffin and James DuMont, who played Landry and O'Bryan respectively, create more antagonists and BP execs for this film than is really needed; what results is a couple of scenes where these guys are shoehorned in for minimal effect. Brad Leland, who played Kaluza, was overshadowed by Malkovich throughout this film; Leland's performance was too restrained and laidback to make him more memorable than the main antagonist clearly was. David Maldonado, who played Kuchta, wasn't very memorable when he was first introduced in this film; however it got worse when the film suddenly placed a lot of importance on his character and tried to unnaturally twist him into an antagonist figure. Dylan O'Brien, who played Caleb Holloway, creates a real schmuck role that feels too simple to empathise with when he's first introduced; in the second half of the film O'Brien is suddenly given more to do which feels quite out of nowhere and out of line with where the narrative had been taking his character so far. Stella Allen, who played Sydney, isn't a very good child performer; her tendency to overperform as if she were in a school production gets a bit too much at times.