Deepwater Horizon

When an explosion on April 20, 2010, ignited the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, the blowout lasted 87 days, leaking 4.2 million gallons into the Gulf, resulting in the worst ecological disaster in American history. Told through the perspective of technician Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg), Deepwater Horizon begins with him bidding goodbye to his wife (Kate Hudson) and young daughter. Before boarding the enormous rig just off the Louisiana coast, Mike greets co-worker Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez) and reports for duty to Captain “Mr. Jimmy” Harrell (Kurt Russell), who is presented with a workplace safety award. Ensuing terse, completely indecipherable, technical-jargon-filled discussions eventually make it clear that certain “negative pressure tests”—along with other complicated maintenance procedures—were not properly performed because of financial shortcuts. According to the crew, the rig is held together “with Band-Aids and bubble gum.” British Petroleum (BP) exec Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich) is concerned that the project is already behind schedule to start pumping oil. “We're confident about the integrity of the cement,” he says, but it's obvious that pressure is building deep below and a monumental catastrophe is lurking. Taking cues from Irwin Allen disaster movies, director Peter Berg takes time to introduce the primary characters before the chaos erupts with fireballs, gushing oil, oozing mud, and collapsing metal towers in suspenseful edge-of-your-seat fashion. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the behind-the-scenes featurettes “The Fury of the Rig” (28 min.), “Deepwater Surveillance” (18 min.), and “Work Like an American” (18 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are a five-part “Beyond the Horizon” featurette with the cast and real-life heroes (52 min.), a “Captain of the Rig” segment on director Peter Berg (19 min.), and bonus digital and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a solid true-life disaster film.] (S. Granger)