There are usually two kinds of disaster films; there’s the global-scale stuff that involves anything from thought-to-be-dormant super-volcanoes to just plain silly stuff about the earth’s core, and then there are the more isolated events, like 1997’s Titanic, 2006’s Poseidon, 2012’s The Impossible (although arguably global in its own right) and last year’s Everest. There are notable efforts on either side though, of course, but perhaps the most memorable are the latter, which, as they’re usually based on true events, tend to make a bigger impact on an emotional scale – provided they’re handled respectfully.
This year sees director Richard Berg’s telling of the harrowing true story of the biggest oil rig catastrophes in U.S. history, when Deepwater Horizon saw the spillage of tens of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 following a series of major explosions. Mark Wahlberg plays Mike Williams, who boards the ill-fated rig with his co-workers for a long three-week haul, unaware that through the ignorance of some of its chiefs (including John Malkovich), the entire seabound structure is a ticking time bomb. And when the first explosion finally hits, all hell breaks loose and Deepwater Horizon’s population is thrust into a burning-hot battle for survival.
Since the 90s, Hollywood has failed to wow audiences with explosions. After all, there’s one in almost every other movie, seamlessly forming part of the action while leaving no imprint on your memory, but Deepwater Horizon brings back the awe, demonstrating the sheer monstrousness of big booms and all the sub-disasters they would likely generate from flying shrapnel to collapsing structures. There’s also a heavy, thunderous sense of pending doom during the first act – aided by the film’s powerfully-atmospheric score – right up until the moment the lid is literally blown off, when the rig’s hapless characters are pitted against a truly relentless assault of infernos, structure-smashing columns of mud, flying metal and falling cranes. From there on in, the film plunges face-first into Titanic-on-steroids overdrive, with a scale of disaster that is simply unforgiving.
The film also has an explosive cast, and as tends to be the case with the more serious stuff, Wahlberg is on top form, and then there’s the eternally-awesome Kurt Russell, (strangely as cool as ever even with a moustache), The Maze Runner’s Dylan O’Brien and fresh-faced Gina Rodriguez, who unite to fight the onslaught of glass, metal, mud, oil and fire as they bravely attempt to rescue their fellow co-workers and escape the blazing inferno.
Perhaps the most compelling, terrifyingly-immersive, edge-of-your-seat watch of the year, Deepwater Horizon is a hard-hitting cinematic experience that effectively demonstrates the will to survive against seemingly-insurmountable odds.
