It is an action film based on real events. It focuses on the circumstances that caused the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in 2010 and the worst environmental disaster in American history.
During the opening credits, you can hear audio clips from the real trial for the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which ended with astronomical penalties.
In 2010, an explosion followed by a massive, uncontrollable crude oil spill occurred on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. A devastating blast that ignited a fireball visible from 40 miles away, then the sinking of the platform and the loss of eleven lives. From there, oil began gushing at a catastrophic rate, creating one of the greatest man-made disasters of all time. Not without consequences, starting with BP and Halliburton.
The film Deepwater Horizon tells the story of the effort and courage of a group of men to save as many lives as possible. The principal cast includes Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich and Kate Hudson, directed by Peter Berg. The screenplay is based on a magnificent, harrowing New York Times article.
The film had its world premiere on 13 September 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation, before opening in US cinemas on 30 September 2016 and in Italian cinemas from 6 October.
The apocalyptic Deepwater Horizon disaster happened in 2010. At the time, no oil exploration operation in the Gulf of Mexico was comparable to that of the BP oil platform in terms of scale and the depth of the wells and drill bits. Yet the entire project is beset by technical difficulties. So much so that the chief supervisor, Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell), and his chief electrical engineer, Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg), are concerned about a simmering cluster of potentially dangerous problems. Unfortunately, however, the BP executives (led by John Malkovich), frustrated by the project's delays, order that inspections be reduced and system tests falsified in order to make up for lost time, despite the safety team's objections. In reality, at the root of the catastrophe lies a faulty cementing job, though this aspect is strangely not shown in the film, even if it is indirectly alluded to.
On 20 April 2010, the workers' fears become reality. In the worst possible way.
The platform's structural and systemic flaws trigger a catastrophic cascade of failures that produce an enormous explosion, with blasts threatening the lives of everyone on board. It is the beginning of the worst environmental disaster in United States history, one of the worst in human history.
Deepwater Horizon reunites director Peter Berg with Mark Wahlberg, who had worked together on Lone Survivor three years earlier. It received a couple of Oscar nominations and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding action performance by a stunt ensemble, so it is packed with action. And with blood and violence too, so much so that in America some people protested against the overly lenient PG-13 rating ("only" restricted to children under 13 unless accompanied by a parent).
Mark Wahlberg has lately been choosing tough roles, as in The Fighter, The Departed and the grotesque Pain & Gain; he is one of those actors who is making intelligent choices. If you enjoyed any of those films of his, you will enjoy this one too, of which he is moreover an executive producer. In other words, he truly believes in it.
Director Peter Berg falls into the same category. He has directed some good films (Lone Survivor, the science-fiction and somewhat bombastic Battleship, Hancock, The Kingdom), even if none of them would yet make it into a film critic's top ten. In an interview with the New York Times, the director said that he has never been surrounded by so many lawyers during the making of a film.
Deepwater Horizon is not a documentary film. It is an action film with visual impact. It is not a film with a message; it is a film about courage in the face of fire. Obviously, being based on real events, the plot is predictable. You know that everything is going to blow up. So, amid exploding chunks of platform and fires, the narrative tension focuses on the friction between the workers and the managers (the central part of the film is one long acting duel between Malkovich and Russell), and on the survivors trying to find a way to escape.
The guilt etched on John Malkovich's face as he looks at Kurt Russell's bruised and bandaged one is the seal of the entire film. Indeed, of the entire true story.