Real-life chaos and emotion directed with ruthless precision
courage that, according to Berg, became largely overlooked once the environmental impact of the disaster became clear.
That the director achieves this balance without becoming overly gung-ho or sentimental makes the film’s achievements on a human level all the more striking, as this remains emotionally compelling even when the pyrotechnics take over.
The film begins as everyman engineer Mike Williams (Wahlberg) heads to the Deepwater Horizon, leaving his wife (Kate Hudson) and daughter at home. Tensions on the rig are already high when he arrives, given the pressure being placed on the crew by BP executives (led by John Malkovich’s Donald Vidrine) to start drilling, despite the safety concerns of veteran Transocean crew captain Mr Jimmy (Kurt Russell). An uneasy compromise is reached, but it soon becomes clear that everyone should have waited.
What follows, in rapid succession, is a series of events in which men frantically attempt to keep nature at bay, only to find themselves hopelessly outclassed. Once things turn bad, they spiral spectacularly out of control.
Berg directs the ensuing chaos with ruthless precision, doing his best to put viewers into the heat of the action. The effect is dizzying and often hard to follow. But that’s kind of the point. Explosions come at you from all sides, often when least expected. Lights flicker on and off, making vision restricted. Men shout instructions at each other yet frequently become drowned out by the noise surrounding them. It is, quite literally, pandemonium.
For some viewers, the sheer velocity with which things are directed may be too much. Some might become frustrated, others nauseated. But if you’re struggling to keep up from the relative comfort of your cinema seat, then spare a thought for those who actually experienced it, which is the point that Berg is making.
And yet the human element, somewhat incredibly, is never lost. Amid the carnage, acts of heroism took place. Wahlberg’s Williams saves colleagues without the camera ever dwelling too long for effect. Russell’s Mr Jimmy remains steadfast in his attempts to save the crew and the rig until the point of no return is reached. The desperation to survive is palpable, as is the anger and frustration at not having been listened to.
If Berg has been unfavourably compared to Michael Bay at times in his career, owing to big budget misfires such as Battleship, then here he displays the lean efficiency and clarity of Paul Greengrass in Captain Phillips mode. As if to underline that point, he even reserves a quiet moment at the end to observe Williams at his most emotional, relieved but broken emotionally and physically by the ordeal at hand. It affords Wahlberg, arguably, his finest acting moment to date, and one that also bears comparison to Tom Hanks’s striking breakdown at the end of Captain Phillips.
But again, it doesn’t feel manipulated, rather earned. Deepwater Horizon may not linger on the scale of the environmental calamity that followed the explosion. But it leaves you in no doubt that this was an entirely preventable tragedy. It is a potent piece of work. *** Dir: Tim Burton With: Eva Green, Samuel L Jackson Runtime: 127 minutes RANSOM Riggs’s spooky and beguiling novel is brought to the screen by, who else, Tim Burton.
With a screenplay by Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass) and a cast that includes Judi Dench and Samuel L Jackson, the tale of gifted children battling the forces of evil starts off with a flourish, as young Jake (Asa Butterfield) tries to understand who or what did for his lovely grandpa (Terence Stamp).
Burton and Goldman labour over the story, making for a picture that seems to last an eternity, and though a family film, some of the scenes have a high fright factor. Plenty of Burton’s visual brilliance, though.