My family and I had discussed the explosion of the oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. They described it as one of the worst explosions of all time, leaving the ocean on fire for over 100 days. It was a very brief conversation. I was around seven years old so I did not understand the logistics of this spill. A few years later, when the movie Deepwater Horizon came out, I was beyond excited to watch it. It was a thrilling, exciting nail biter all-in-one. The movie is based off of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon Oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.

The movie plays out in a few different sections. In the beginning, the crew of the Deepwater Horizon is introduced:  Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) is the heroic and brave father to his young daughter Sydney (Stella Allen). In the beginning of the story, the director, Peter Berg, sets the tone foreshadowing what is to come in the next hour and a half with dramatic underwater shots of the ocean floor appearing to gurgle and tremble.

Williams’ daughter has to make a presentation in school about what her dad does at work by making a replica of an oil rig out of a soda can, metal tube and honey.  During the demonstration, soda come shooting up the tube exploding into the air.  This forebodes what is to come on the rig.

Williams jumps in a helicopter which takes him to the rig along with crewmates, Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez) and Caleb Holloway (Dylan O’Brien). The boss on the rig is Jimmy Harrell, also know as “Mr.Jimmy”, who is played by Kurt Russell.

The next part of the movie involves the conflict between BP Oil, which owns the oil rig and the oil underneath it, and the Deepwater Horizon crew which was contracted to locate and pump the oil. BP would not start making money until the oil began to flow, so they wanted the drilling and completion of the well to be completed as quickly as possible. As the movie gets going, delivery on the completed well is already 50 days late. The Deepwater Horizon crew drills and prepares the well for the oil to flow. Their primary concern is drilling safely and ensuring the safety of the workers and the rig during the very dangerous drilling process. While the Deepwater crew was insisting on performing safety tests on the well at every step, BP executives at times appeared more concerned with money than with safety. They insisted that the drilling move quicker to completion.

The end result of this conflict is revealed in the final third of the movie when the oil rig blows out and ultimately explodes. The men are trapped in the rig with no way of getting out. The metal cracks explode and mud is everywhere. The tragedy leaves the crew members in panic hoping to get out of the mess.

The screenplay in the movie is extraordinary. The way that they display the oil rig looks like an exact replica of the real one. The dialogue between the characters made me feel as though I was there with them.

Of course Wahlberg played his usual, likable self in the movie. His act of being a hero, dad, husband and leader to his crew made the movie worth watching. There was not one second of the movie when I was bored or did not enjoy the action onscreen. I would overall rate this movie a 4 /4.