On April 20th, 2010, an oil rig by the name of Deepwater Horizon exploded in the gulf of Mexico, causing one of the biggest oil disasters in American history. The event killed 11 people. The film, Deepwater Horizon, released September 30th and directed Peter Burg, director of Lone Survivor, tells this gripping tale of survival and corporate greed that allowed this event to happen.

Peter Burg is a very compelling director, and the way the film is shot is very distinct to his style. The first 45 minutes is all exposition, helping to build the characters up and allowing the viewer to become emotionally attached to the characters. Then, once the film enters act two, all hell breaks loose.

The second part of the film is a nonstop action highlighting the actions of brave individuals. The film has no breaks and doesn’t even take five minutes away from the action once the oil rig starts to descend into chaos.

Mark Wahlberg nails his role as family man Mike Williams; his character is a shining star in this dark film. His performance helps to capture the story in a whole new light. This is Wahlberg’s second film with Peter Burg, the first one being Lone Survivor, and I can’t wait to see their next film.

Kurt Russell did a fantastic job as Mr. Jimmy. I was captivated with the way he portrayed this man and how after everything was over, how much sadness and anger his character showed.

This is a loud movie, full of awesome spectacles of CGII. I kept wondering if what I was looking at was real or fake. Burg don’t shy away from the gore of broken limbs and other graphic scenes. If you have a weak stomach then I would suggest looking away at some graphic scenes, such as when Russell’s character pulls a shard of glass out of his foot.

I wish that there was breaks in the action every now and then so I could breath between scenes, but as the movie went on I realized it was directed like this to highlight the quickness of the event. You felt like you were seeing a first hand account of the whole occurrence.

The great part this film really nails is the action. No scene of violence in this film is mindless, they are all there to highlight the horror of the real event.

A few moments took me out of the film at times. One of the first scenes with the daughter and father seemed rather pointless. Many of the shots inside the pipes and on the ocean floor felt very well done but they did take me out of the moment because I could clearly tell they were CGI.

Overall Deepwater Horizon’s minor faults are easily covered up by its constant intensity. It leaves you panting from the non-stop action and interested the truth behind the real event.