Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan & Matthew Sand.
Directed by Peter Berg.
★★★½
This is a solid, straightforward effort as the star (Mark Wahlberg) and director (Peter Berg) of Lone Survivor are reunited to tell the story of the 12 hours that led up to the explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig that led to the biggest oil disaster in history.
It's white-collar vs. blue-collar. Kurt Russell is Jimmy Harrell, the head of the rig and the one who wants to make sure all of the safety tests have been conducted. John Malkovich is Vidrine, the BP exec who feels like they're behind schedule and they don't really need to do all of the tests. While they're the main conflict, the movie also has us get to know Mike (Mark Wahlberg) and Andrea (Gina Rodriguez) and a few other crew members so that we care about these characters before the inevitable disaster hits.
Once it does, it becomes The Towering Inferno at Sea. Berg has already demonstrated himself to be a solid action director, and he makes the stakes harrowing. A few crew members did die that night, and unless you studied the backstory before seeing the movie, you won't which ones might be among them.
At the same time, this does feel respectful to the people who were involved in this tragedy. No Jack & Rose love story thrown in.
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