Deepwater Horizon

A straightforward script turned into a well-crafted catastrophic hell with some clichés, but an emotionally dignified, impressive ending. For me, this was the first disaster movie so intense that I don’t want to watch it again for the pleasure of quality filmmaking. As usual, Mark Wahlberg works well as the “suburban folk hero”, and Kurt Russell as the responsible boss of the group of young workers gives the movie’s best performance. And John Malkovich was in it for the money. I’d have preferred to see someone else, even a less famous actor, in his role of the unscrupulous businessman. (30/09/2016)

Working on an oil rig must be a very rewarding experience. When everything is going smoothly, you twist the cap of the pipeline a few times, pump the crap that is as repugnant to nature activists as a bucket of absinthe is to teetotalers, and you get an outrageous amount of money for it, and in your free time you worry only about how to best refit your million-dollar yacht. And then, when everything unexpectedly goes to hell, Hollywood makes a movie about you and you are the greatest hero since Nicolas Cage in the World Trade Center. Fortunately, contrary to my previous sentences, Berg has made such a sincere, empathetic and, in the end, even emotional epitaph on the fate of the unfortunate few who gave their lives due to sheer corporate bureaucracy and greed that I wouldn't be surprised if all the survivors wanted to have a beer with him every night for the rest of their lives. The plot is full of clichés and John Malkovich's character is exactly the annoying prototype of the irrational person who does everything they can to cause trouble in spite of everyone else, but otherwise it all comes across as authentic, intense and, hand in hand with a minimum of inaccessible shots, painful. And it's good that the clear culprit is neither the weather nor a technical glitch, but a failure of the human factor, and that the involvement of the protagonist's personal life doesn't come across as sentimental, but as the only 100% compelling way to realise what, above all, a person can lose when doing a dangerous job. Peter Berg has gone from a director of dull action stuff to a respected maker of real action flicks, and that's a good thing... 75% (26/12/2016)

A decent survival drama based on real events, featuring plenty of explosions, oil, and also good acting and a decent script. The first half has an easy pacing, we get to know the characters to get at least a glimpse of them, while the second half is a frantic ride for life, with no sparing of action and heroism. And in short, as is often the case, when people have to make a decision at some crucial moment, they unfortunately often make the wrong one, as evidenced by this film, which faithfully reconstructs the biggest oil disaster in US history. (01/09/2017)

The working class has never been as poignant and likeable as performed by Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell, and I'm almost sorry that the final photos of the bloated Texas rednecks break this illusion. Marxist jokes aside - Berg gives the performance of his life, when especially the first half of his smooth flow of dialogues, editing and manual filming goes by incredibly quickly. The ensuing fiery inferno is marked by disorientation in the frantic cadence of cuts and details (this could never happen to Paul Greengrass), but it is still a warm enough spectacle to enjoy the final collapse of an ordinary person (after Captain Philips, apparently a new mandatory character of civil disasters). DH is an ode to the common sense of ordinary people and a captivating spectacle, where Mark tames dinosaurs from the depths and Kurt fat eruptions from British Petrol. In my opinion, good, pure entertainment with clear limits. (30/09/2016)

A catastrophic inferno that looks great. Peter Berg combined sweet sweeping camerawork and breathtaking explosions with a dignified memorial to the worker or his superiors who got killed or maimed for money, money, money. Criticism of contemporary corporate thinking isn’t really the crux of this movie, but, as we find out in the end, Malkovich is just the type of slippery bastard who is guilty on all counts, but who get away Scott-free. Carnahan’s targeted screenplay that concentrates on facts, Berg gives us the occasional visual gem: for instance, the shot of the American flag with the burning oil rig in the background, or the shot of Kate Hudson’s butt in panties (just hugging daddy Kurt), but the finale is a homage to all experts. Engineers, maintenance men, foremen, bosses who got their job on the basis of their experience and not from sitting on their asses. A very good job. I’m content. (07/10/2016)