It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The film makers wisely focus their main effort on portraying the very real dangers involved in the offshore E&P business (even down to bird strikes that can play havoc with equipment) and how things can so easily go wrong, risking the lives of the people at the front end. Unfortunately, they did fall into the trap of following the US business and government narrative at the time, throwing all the blame onto a foreign oil company that was making serious inroads into 'their' business. While not wishing to excuse BP from their significant responsibility, subsequent investigations have shown culpability in the series of errors that led to the disaster to be shared among a number of companies involved, most of them American. Nevertheless, since the film mainly follows the technical complexity of the operations taking place and reactions under the severest stress, it is an action movie that stands as an effective tribute to those 11 men who died so tragically, as well as the heroism and professional competence of many of those who survived. My main spoiler is to point out that the Wahlberg character, while representing a specific individual, actually incorporated several individuals on the platform and is shown doing numerous things that were actually done by others. Why can't Hollywood just recognise the heroism in most people, working together as a team, instead of concentrating it into a single superhero? This is supposed to be a 'real-world' event, after all!

Deepwater Horizon The second half of the feature is enthralling and filled with high pitched dramatic action sequences that ups the ante of it which was laid down since the beginning of its first half as a slow pill that kicks in later than it should. Peter Berg is no short on execution but the script is the real downer that never had enough crisp to make it in the first place. Mark Wahlberg is investing all his chips in along with a great supporting cast like Kurt Rusell, John Malkovich and Gina Rodriguez. Deepwater Horizon might be informative and factual but it certainly isn't intriguing or entertaining for the audience to be effected by it.

If I could give this a negative star review, I would. I don't know what happened to film making, but it seems to be just dead and buried. Imagine a film where the camera is close up onto the pores of an actors skin and then shake the camera back and forth for and hour and a half. Quick cuts, close shots, shaky cam. Just terrible and I mean terrible direction. Shame. Shame. Shame.

Deepwater Horizon There are some disaster movies that are straight up disasters. Hollywood likes to feed us a steady diet of them. Usually from the guys and gals that brought us Independence Day regurgitated or ridiculousness like Geostorm!Here director Peter Berg has brought us a fantastic film that tells the story of a real life disaster. An explosion that occurred in 2010 on the off shore oil rig named Deepwater Horizon, which created the worst oil spill in history. Like I said, a real life disaster. A story that is told by firstly introducing us to real life characters that are developed before any chaos ensues. This is masterfully done by Berg and scriptwriters Matthew Sand and co to cement the audiences care for what happens to the lives on screen. There's no hot shot scientists here played unconvincingly by Hollywood's latest Beef cake! Instead Mark Wahlberg proves that he can actually act when he's not too busy getting caught up in Transformers nonsense. We also get a commanding performance from the always brilliant Kurt Russell as Mr Jimmy, the man in charge. Peter Berg takes his time setting the movie up before events unfold. He gives the audience a chance to learn a little about oil extraction and the pressure that is applied by multi billion dollar companies wanting their payload. John Malkovich gives a solid performance as the BP executive named Vidrine who is applying such pressure to Russell's character. A great performance even if Malkovich's accent seemed a little erratic at times.When disaster does eventually strike it is incredibly staged and this movie looks and sounds fantastic. The special effects are some of the best I've seen in recent years. Sound design is ear shatteringly good. If like I, you missed this movie at the cinema, please watch this on the biggest TV you can find with a good 5.1 surround sound set up. This film deserves that much. Deepwater Horizon is as much as an immersive experience as it is good story telling. The Dolby Atmos sound mix is a tool wonderfully utilised. Picture quality is top notch too with rich colours accentuating the unbearable heat caused by the devastating explosions. I thoroughly enjoyed Deepwater Horizon and this movie is proof that when done right a disaster movie doesn't have to be a disaster.