This oil & gas disaster lazy flick has the most clichéd characters you can find in a movie with typical family sentiments. Subtexts used to explain technical stuffs such as negative pressure and all as a way of heavy exposition is lousy. Moreover, we are given wasted dialogues that do not add anything to the film, from characters who do not contribute anything to the picture. Why unnecessarily try Hollywoodizing rednecks from oil rigs & take away the realness from the actual people like?
However, the feature hints at a potential calamity very well from the beginning, ranging from the name of the well, superstitions, minor accidents, misstep procedures and so on. You know something really, really bad is about to transpire soon, and the equally thrilling vibe the First Act sends out is good! Mike's (Mark Wahlberg) daughter's narration of the oil drilling process & the atmosphere establishment on rig are neat. It's only up until the point of the blowout the film's interesting, tense. And the oil spillage & combustion rounds are beautifully captured. But, the following remnant of man rescue mission is messy & humdrum.
Of all the actors, watch out for Kurt Russell as Mr. Jimmy & John Malkovich as Donald Vidrine. These two are top notch. The way the latter talks about the bladder effect & his subtle argument with Mike are some of the countable entertaining moments. Computer graphic works for the Blowout Preventer, mass casualty explosion & bird strike in Bankston are praiseworthy. Painstaking effort's taken to design sounds for bolts & breakages. Steve Jablonsky's score for the overhead shots are nice.