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In 2010, the world followed the news reports in shock and horror as oil spilled out into the ocean, miles off the coast of Louisiana. It’s a tale of both tragedy and corporate scandal—and director Peter Berg’s depiction in Deepwater Horizon struggles to convey the whole story.
Deepwater Horizon tells the story of the worst oil spill in U.S. history through the eyes of those who lived and worked on the massive offshore drilling rig. Mark Wahlberg stars as Mike Williams, who returns to the rig for a three-week stay, only to discover that BP’s company men have sent away the team that was supposed to perform an important test before work could move forward. And as the company men push Mike’s boss, Mr. Jimmy (Kurt Russell), to cut corners, disaster strikes, and those aboard find themselves in a fight for survival.
The Deepwater Horizon spill was truly disastrous—a series of greedy cost-cutting measures and criminal negligence that led to an enormous catastrophe. And, in telling the story, director Peter Berg and his crew seem unsure which aspect they want to cover: the part that plays out like an award season exposé or the part that plays out like a big-budget disaster movie. So they attempt to do both. And the result is a rather unbalanced real-life thriller.
The story’s setup is often puzzling, loaded with oil drilling jargon that’s rattled off at a head-spinning pace. The opening scenes with Mike and his family do attempt to explain parts of the process in terms that, presumably, a child can understand, but it’s still a lot to follow. And unless you know a little bit about how offshore drilling works (which I don’t), you’ll most likely find yourself hopelessly lost in the details.
After the lengthy setup, then, the action builds when ill-advised operations go horribly wrong and Mike ends up racing through destruction and flames, trying to get himself and his coworkers off the rig. The action is done well, with explosions and effects that will put audiences in the center of the chaos and confusion. But it feels like it belongs in an entirely different movie. When the rig explodes, the story is derailed—and it never gets back on track. And though it’s all pretty thrilling stuff, the emotional connection is minimal. So while it has some interesting moments as both a corporate drama and an action movie, the two parts don’t blend together especially well.
In telling its story of greed and disaster, Deepwater Horizon doesn’t hold back. It points fingers and offers up the gruesome details—and its action is gripping. But in trying to cover every aspect of this real-life tragedy, it falls short.
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