★★★½☆
There has always been very few media limelight in terms of profiling the oil and gas industry. Besides the sexy oil price reports that gets the market and speculators excited, there’s really nothing much known about the sector. Building upon this context, filmmaker Peter Berg has gone ahead to adapt one of the worst oil spill disasters in human history for the silver screen.
Deepwater Horizon was a mobile offshore drilling unit commissioned and tasked to drill at one of the deepest oil well at over 35,000ft in depth. Given the harsh conditions that Deepwater Horizon operated within, the extreme depth brings about heightened engineering challenges – such as drilling precision and asset integrity interfacing high pressure and high temperature parameters.
Adopting some of the most advanced engineering technologies during a time when the oil price is lucratively soaring at over USD100 per barrel, Berg interestingly opts to infuse technicalities within the first half of his film that is also titled after the ultra-deepwater offshore drilling rig.
Forget about the technical fact that Deepwater Horizon was a dynamic-positioning semi-submersible. General audience members had difficulties understanding the role of Schlumberger engineers onboard and why oil major BP sent them home despite the contest of Transocean employees.
Berg needed a little more effort to present a more palatable package for the ease of viewers who are mostly not well-versed in the industry terminologies. As such, direction was much weaker in the first-half of the film as it was (1) obsessed with staying faithful to technicalities that resulted in (2) a severe loss of comprehension and attention span by mainstream viewers.
Fortunately, there’s a few other merits observed despite the slew of technical jargons thrown about in the first half of Deepwater Horizon. Through this approach, albeit not commercially palatable, the dirty dynamics between the various stakeholders and players in the industry were brought to light.
How Transocean employees did not dare to disconnect the drill pipe and seal the oil well because they did not have the authority to do so. How BP coerced their argument for the drilling against safety concerns to proceed despite uncertainties in technical confidence because they are over forty days behind schedule.
During a period where oil is gold, executives strayed to cut corners at the expense of safety and lives of others. Along with the culture in place where operators are king before contractors and oilfield service providers. These are genuine concerns and food for thought.
At the moment when the ferocious (and expensive-looking) blowout and fire ensued, the second half of the film took viewers down an exhilarating journey of action and thrills led by protagonist Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) and brilliant antagonist Vidrine (John Malkovich). Witnessing how human lives are so vulnerable before the disaster, it also brings about empathy and how people should never exploit Mother Earth against her will and nature. There was also a brief scene of a seabird covered in crude oil slicks – a reference on the impact to the ocean and environment.
Berg took a bold bet to honour the real-life disaster and those who lost their lives to an industry that ought to revisit itself. In return, Deepwater Horizon came out as a decent redemption to the tragedy as a film that not only delivers in style but also substance.
Also published on InCinemas.sg
cineJay 