Inspired by a True Story of Real Life Heroes
 Deepwater Horizon is directed by Peter Berg (Lone Survivor, Friday Night Lights) and stars Mark Wahlberg (Lone Survivor, Prisoners), Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight, The Thing), Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin), Dylan O'Brien (The Maze Runner, Teen Wolf) and Kate Hudson (Almost Famous, Bride Wars). "A story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history". With Deepwater Horizon, can Mark Wahlberg prove he has some serious acting chops or will this be one of the cheesiest films of the year despite its horrific subject matter?

I saw 3 films over the past week - The Magnificent Seven, Deepwater Horizon and Miss Peregrine - to my surprise, Deepwater Horizon was by far my favourite out of the three - it was a thoroughly pleasant surprise that I really enjoyed watching and would definitely recommend. This film is about a very important subject matter and covers it well - being both interesting and entertaining. Surprisingly, Wahlberg is not only watchable but actually puts on a very good performance in this film. There are a few flaws but I think this is definitely the film you should be seeing this weekend. 

The performances were of a pretty good standard in Deepwater Horizon. Going in, I would not expect to be feeling this way as Mark Wahlberg really isn't known for portraying quite serious roles and is usually in light hearted actions and comedies such as Transformers and Ted. However, I was impressed quite a bit by Wahlberg who was a brilliant leading man that was likeable, funny and heroic. Unfortunately, none of the supporting cast really made that much of an impression on me but praise has to go to Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien and Kate Hudson who all had pretty small roles but had some very strong moments. Hudson's accent was a little questionable but I thought she played the role well as it is the typical Kate Hudson role. None of the performances in this film are going to attract awards attention but they are all at least solid and occasionally very strong. Kurt Russell was also very good and one of scenes was very uncomfortable to sit through - when the rig first explodes whilst Russell is in the shower - the visuals for this moment were very effective but it was very discomforting to watch. 

Deepwater Horizon follows the formula of a classic old fashioned disaster film and it does it really well - these are the types of films Hollywood used to be known for making. However, it's also shocking when you then consider that all of this actually happened - this isn't just a popcorn movie. The visual effects were very good in Deepwater Horizon - all of the action scenes involved with the destruction of the rig were very impressive. I also thought the moments were the oil exploded were impressive. Even though it's horrific to think that all of this actually happened, it is still impressive to think that these moments were able to be recreated and look so realistic. The visual effects added to the tension - the way the film was edited to when oil would explode was very good. I also thought the visuals to do with the bird were good - it is interesting to see the whole picture as the media only focused on the effects the oil spill had on sea life so it was nice to see the effects it had on the actual crew members. However, I also thought it was important that the film did touch on matters such as the effect on marine life and the scene with the bird was hard to watch - the visuals were realistic though. 

This was a true story so its hard to criticise the actual plot but I though the plot wasn't too complex and a little simplified - it does feel like there is an even bigger picture. The film spends about half of the running time on the lead up to the disaster and then the other half on how the crew escape the disaster - it would have been interesting to see more of the aftermath - even though its a true story and life is never complete, the story the film presented didn't really feel as complete as it could have. It was briefly mentioned but I would have liked to have seen more on the effects of marine life as that is all I really knew of the spill. I will give praise to the writers as they didn't turn this story into a light-hearted action popcorn film but kept it dark and realistic but still made it entertaining to watch. As a whole, this whole story is very powerful and interesting and I really enjoyed watching it - Deepwater Horizon not only entertained me but it educated me. 

I really do recommend you see Deepwater Horizon - it is a film that is flawed but it also has many positives. The visual effects are amazing - both making the film even more epic but even more powerful with some of the horrific moments the characters are put through. Deepwater Horizon is an interesting and revealing film that won't only draw your attention with the big explosions but will keep you interested with the interesting build up to the events. However, you will leave feeling like the film is incomplete but it is a true story so that was bound to happen. Wahlberg is impressive but nobody else shines too much. See Deepwater Horizon on the biggest screen you can as this is a very solid flick.