Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Deepwater Horizon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 4, 2017

Disaster films often are focused on what are kind of euphemistically called “acts of god” by insurance firms. The titular ocean liner of The Poseidon Adventure fame didn’t turn itself over, after all, nor did Los Angeles create its own Earthquake (as much as some might aver karma had something to do with it). Armageddon seemed imminent without any causal connection to Mankind, and neither Volcano nor Dante's Peak erupted due to some human’s malfeasance. There have been notable exceptions, however, including the film that is often credited with creating (or at least reinvigorating) the disaster genre way back in 1970, Airport, where the literally explosive climax was in fact due to a hapless man (one ironically intent on securing an insurance payment for his family). The Towering Inferno is probably one of the best examples of a disaster being caused by humans, what with corrupt contractors cutting corners and leading to a rather flammable situation. Something very similar is on hand in Deepwater Horizon, a film which purports to document the horrifying chain of events which resulted in several deaths in 2010 and which reportedly also caused the single biggest oil spill in United States waters (a “record” which hopefully won’t be “bested” any time soon, if ever). Deepwater Horizon is undeniably exciting, but it’s also a weird mashup of disaster film and what might be termed a “popcorn flick”, something that might be more acceptable if the story weren’t based on real life. It seems a little churlish (and frankly maybe a lot churlish) to be deriving a dose of adrenaline off of the sad series of man made mistakes that resulted in such carnage.

Deepwater Horizon wants to take the docudrama approach, at least as evidenced by various subtitles that seek to identify some of the locations and/or technologies on display, but at the same time the film wants to provide human drama that is at least partly (and probably inevitably) fictionalized, providing “private” moments for a number of characters that may or may not have actually happened. It’s a dicey dialectic, but one that scenarists Matthew Michael Carnahan and Michael Sand, along with director Peter Berg, manage to keep balanced most of the time.

Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) and Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) arrive at the Deepwater Horizon after some introductory vignettes which seek to quickly establish the two as stand up guys, and it becomes obvious that these two in particular are meant to serve as audience surrogates, especially once they become aware of how shoddy some of the preparatory work on the offshore drilling rig has been. One of the kind of interesting things about the film is that it does not fictionalize names of various companies involved in the disaster, chief among them BP, with BP employee Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich) posited as the obvious villain of the piece.

There’s quite a bit of expository material, some character based, a lot of it detailing the technical aspects of what led to the disaster, before all hell breaks loose a rather surprisingly long way into what is not really that lengthy of a film. At that point, Deepwater Horizon tends to tip more into traditional disaster film mode, with one devastating explosion after another taking out various characters as heroic efforts to stem the tide (so to speak) ultimately end up failing. Director Peter Berg (who collaborated with Wahlberg previously on Lone Survivor) keeps things moving at a breakneck pace once the carnage does start, but a certain amount of patience needs to be afforded the film in the early going. That said, the subliminal dread that builds during the early scenes is often palpable and probably only adds to the ultimate “payoff” once the disaster begins unfolding.

In a way, Deepwater Horizon is certainly no more “exploitative” than other disaster films based on true life incidents (Flight 93 springs instantly to mind in this regard), though some may feel a bit uneasy deriving “entertainment” from such harrowing circumstances. That said, the film is resolutely respectful of the “good guys” in this scenario, even if it resorts to near cartoonish depictions of the “bad guys”, chief among them Vidrine.

Deepwater Horizon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Deepwater Horizon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. The IMDb states the film was shot with Arri Alexa cameras and finished at a 2K DI. Detail levels throughout the presentation are uniformly high, though they depend at least in part on some of the lighting schemes employed, especially after the disaster starts unfolding. The best scenes in terms of overall detail levels are in the early going, during some sunlit or other brightly lit scenes where things like facial pores or some of what looks like canvas strapping on some of the uniforms are presented with great clarity and precision. Once everything starts careening out of control, a number of issues tend to deplete detail levels, if surprisingly minimally at times. Many of the explosions take place in near darkness, something that at least provides a nicely inky backdrop to the bursts of flames, but then interior scenes are often lit only by flickering light and passing embers, with much of the frame shrouded in darkness. There are also a number of underwater sequences where detail levels are understandably hazy looking. Compression is generally commendable, though there are a few moments in both explosions and some of the underwater segments where brief and minimal banding occurs.

Deepwater Horizon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audiophiles may want to pick up this disc even if they have no interest in the subject matter, since Deepwater Horizon's Dolby Atmos track provides one of the best reference quality audio experiences of the new year (which, admittedly, is still young). Even before the explosions send huge waves of sonic information rumbling through the floorboards and overhead, there are some great pinpoint placements of sound effects in the early going, including the helicopter rotors as the team gets to the rig, and some of the drilling sound effects. The underwater scenes have typical "muffling" but sound viscerally exciting at times. Dialogue is mixed extremely well, even in some of the cacophonous scenes late in the film where all sorts of effects are ping ponging through the surrounds.

Deepwater Horizon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Beyond the Horizon (1080p; 51:21) features a number of segments ostensibly devoted to Mark Wahlberg, Kate Hudson, Kurt Russell and Dylan O'Brien, but which branch out into various aspects of the production.


• Captain of the Rig: Peter Berg (1080p; 18:15) profiles the film's director.


• The Fury of the Rig (1080p; 27:20) looks at various aspects of the film's primary setting.


• Deepwater Surveillance (1080p; 17:40) offers some interesting unedited footage from various sequences.


• Participant Media Work Like an American

  American Worker Tributes (1080p; 16:03) profiles some of the real life heroes of the tragedy.

  I Am a Steel Beam with Narration by Director Peter Berg (1080p; 1:03) profiles, well, a steel beam as well as other construction miracles.

  I Am a Steel Beam with Narration by Gina Rodriguez (1080p; 1:03) is the same piece with a different narrator.

Additionally, Lionsgate sent along a new Google Cardboard VR viewer with instructions to download the Deepwater Horizon VR app (available through the usual app portals for either Android or Apple devices). There are three immersive "commentary" scenes available, though only the first one is available at download (it includes a fun and kind of snarky conversation between Peter Berg and editor Colby Parker, Jr.). The other two need to be "unlocked using audio recognition" (to quote the press release) while watching the film, something that I have yet to attempt.

Deepwater Horizon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Deepwater Horizon, the film, is undeniably exciting but a little trite in its supposed character development. Deepwater Horizon, the Blu- ray release, offers great looking video and astounding audio and (if one bites the bullet for some kind of VR gear) has the latest "gizmo" the brain trust at various home theater labels are trying to market, 360 degree virtual reality supplements. Recommended.