A disaster well told
Johnson Thomas
This film based on a true-life incident has all the makings of a big ticket disaster experience. With Peter Berg at the helm, this was bound to be a worthy enough experience. If you are a fan of the disaster movie genre, this one will not leave you dissatisfied.
The recent ‘Sully’ was a disaster being prevented; this one is about going up in flames literally. The incident cornered all the news headlines across the country and neighboring ones for its sheer unimaginable magnitude and destructive force. The 20th April 2010 explosion that reduced the Gulf of Mexico drilling rig to debris was followed by a catastrophic oil spill that took nearly three months to cap. So you can well imagine the environmental cost we’ve had to pay for the miserliness and negligence of a giant corporation. The film spares no one. The culprits are clearly outlined. BP corners the lion’s share, of course. That they did not pay a heavier price like our own Warren Anderson (remember Bhopal Gas tragedy?) was to be expected I guess.
The film is first-rate as far as the techical aspects are concerned. In fact, most of the dialogues are highly technical in nature, so the audience might not get too involved in the conversations other than the friendly banter that comes along with it. The disorienting handheld camerawork from Enrique Chediak really puts you in the thick of the fire. Structured as an old-fashioned disaster movie, the body count remains low even when the conflagration reaches sky high. This is an enjoyable enough outing, but not a memorable one.
