As always with big business, it begins with cuts; cost cuts, staff cuts and short cuts. Ok for BP profit margins, bad for the safety and operate of deep sea drilling rig Deepwater Horizon.
And it’s not for a second the ignorance or inattentiveness of crew chief, the beloved Mr Jimmy (Kurt Russell) or hardworking and outspoken team member Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg),both of whom announce the imminent peril at volume across the vessel. No, the fault here – as the film takes great pains to illustrate – falls with the management who would seek to extract every last cent of profit from the overworked facility and its crew, 128 of them in all.
In this case the role of ‘management’ is to be played by John Malkovich.
When the flames, explosions and destruction arrive – and we all know it will – it is depicted in lurid and vivid colour. This might test your blu-Ray and speaker set up more than your intellect, but surely there is always room for some ‘BOOM!’
With director Peter Berg seemingly being groomed to step into the late great Tony Scott’s shoes – namely ‘making potential mediocrity more interesting’, Deepwater Horizon represents perfect weekend fare. Competent, occasionally compelling, and ultimately forgettable, it will make a couple hours pass in a pleasant way.
Final Rating – 7 / 10. Deepwater Horizon doesn’t get nearly as deep as the 3.5 miles the rig’s drill plumbs, but superficial can sometimes be adequate.
