Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Then there was the scene Kurt Russell’s Mr. Jimmy tells a BP Executive
(waiting to fly out to the Rig aboard a chopper) to take off his magenta
coloured tie for reasons of superstition. In the world of deep sea oil
exploration, warning signs of impending disaster are colour-coded with
magenta being the most dire.
The third scene saw a bird strike on the windscreen of the helicopter
conveying a shift crew and BP Executives to the Rig stationed in the
Gulf of Mexico. On arrival on the Rig, the team disembarks whilst
another shift crew embarks to exit the Rig. An enquiry from Mr. Jimmy
to a member of the outgoing team about whether tests has been
carried out gets lost in the din of the chopper’s rotors but sets the tone
for what we know is to come.
Amid the banters exchanged between the just arriving team and those
already aboard the Rig, the audience can sense the ominous tone of the
impending disaster, a feeling that’s heightened the more by the
melodramatic soundtrack.
On the other hand, drill experts are pre-occupied with a different kind
of concern. From experience, they know the dangers involved with a
drill exploration plagued by faulty equipment in need of
repair/maintenance and outstanding pressure tests yet to be carried
out.
The movie could so easily have had the emotional investment needed
to recreate the tragedy of the Deep Water Horizon overwhelmed by the
CGI recreation of the disaster. But Peter Berg ensured that the former
remained the focal point whilst the latter propped it up like an easel.
There was a method to the chaos that ensued after the geysers of mud,
oil and methane gas erupted. It was like watching a giddy clown trying
to balance himself on a unicycle whilst trying to pull off a multi-object
juggle. The splicing of scenes of explosions, mangled metal
constructions, flying projectiles and human escape and rescue often
created a dizzying effect.
As lead actor, Mark Wahlberg gave the most engaging and impressive
performance in the movie. Over the years and in several movies,
Wahlberg has proved himself quite adept at playing convincingly blue
collar/working man-type characters with a realism that both lends itself
to audience appreciation and seems to mirror his real life persona.
Kurt Russell and John Malkovich seemed to reprise older and grizzled
versions of characters they had previously portrayed in other movies
albeit with a noticeable southern twang. Russell’s Mr. Jimmy seemed
like an older version of Snake Plissen from Escape From New York with
the graying buzz cut of Todd from Soldier or Col. Jonathan O’Neil from
Stargate. Malkovich’s Donald Vidrine seemed like a grizzled and aged
version of his Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom from Con Air.
As Andrea, Gina Rodriguez shed her girly Jane from Jane the Virgin for a
tomboyish upgrade reminiscent of another latina actress she shares the
same surname with, Michelle Rodriguez. Only that Gina’s tomboy
seemed less angsty and perhaps, more sexy than Michelle’s.