“Deepwater Horizon” is the new movie based on true events having to do with the worst oil rig explosion in US history. This movie was directed by Peter Berg, who also directed “The Lone Survivor”, “Hancock”, and “Patriots Day”, the upcoming film based on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing which will be in a theater near you on December 21.

This movie stars Mark Wahlberg as ironically, Mark Williams. I say ironically because I never see anyone play a character, especially a main character, with the same name as them. I have not seen The Lone Survivor, heard good things though, but one thing I noticed is that Mark Wahlberg is in both this movie and that movie as well. After looking on his IMDb, I noticed Wahlberg was involved in not only involved with the acting, but he also was involved in producing both films. It said that for The Lone Survivor, he was a producer, and he executive produced this film. I have no idea how well his performance was in The Lone Survivor, but he aces his performance in Deepwater Horizon. There’s one moment towards the end of the movie where I’m like, “Wow! That’s Oscar material!” I’m not surprised considering he was an executive producer, so maybe that added a little bit to having an idea of how he could execute his performance, but it’s still awesome.

Mark’s wife, it’s funny, I don’t know whether I should say Mark’s wife, Mark Wahlberg’s wife, or Mark Williams’s wife, nevertheless his wife is played by Kate Hudson. That brings me to my next topic. There was another movie that came this year that also featured a disaster based on true events, it’s called “The Finest Hours.” In that movie there was a subplot where Chris Pine, the star of the movie has a love interest, and Mark Wahlberg in this movie is also in love with a woman, and comparing the two, this one is something that can add something to the movie whereas with the other one, it felt either too forced, or perhaps fake. Why does this love interest subplot work? First of all it feels real. There was one point where Kate Hudson receives a call where she’s given the information having to do with the incident the movie is focusing on, she’s crying, her daughter is watching her, she’s asking a realistic question, followed by Kate Hudson giving a realistic answer. So I would give props to the writers and actors for the successfully delivering the drama factor.

This movie is based on a true story so spoiling the movie isn’t really something that should drag it down for the most part so I’ll say this: the Deepwater Horizon oil rig had a BP Safety award streak. In the movie they show that they won it again around the time of the rig explosion, which does add to the story because for a company that won quite a few BP Safety awards, an event like the one mainly depicted in this movie is a bit of a downfall. The movie did a good job of showing positives about the subject that may make the upcoming negative a little more interesting.

Unlike the middle and end of the movie, the beginning of the movie, wasn’t the best example of quality. Sure, it was effective, but it could have been more. I wouldn’t take too many points off though because I will say it did a nice job at establishing the characters and situations in a proper manner. Speaking of characters and things that appear to be lamer than other things, Mark Wahlberg’s co-workers for the most part didn’t do it for me at the beginning. Their characterization definitely improved throughout the film though so that makes up for it. There were a few characters that were fine at the beginning, but let’s just say there’s room for improvement.

I may be cheating here because when I saw this movie, I actually saw this in IMAX, but this movie is one of the most intense things I’ve seen all year. Throughout the entire disaster I was beginning to lose my breath, feel bad for everyone on the ship, especially considering this was real, and sweat. OK, the last one may have been because I had a sweatshirt on but I don’t care. If I were there at Deepwater, I’d probably run around screaming until I die, or run around screaming until I jump off and die, or run around screaming until I jump off and I have assistance getting to a lifeboat therefore I survive. It’s probably worse for me because I have sensitive ears, which means if the average person hears an explosion, it’s probably already loud enough, whereas I hear it and I just want to cover my ears, making them warm and red.

Deepwater Horizon was one of the better movies of the year and contains some of the best performances I’ve seen this year. I’m not surprised if Mark Wahlberg gets nominated for a ton of awards including Oscars, because of this movie. I have not seen The Lone Survivor, but Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg make a great team and I cannot wait to see what the two can do with the upcoming film Patriots Day, which comes out this December. I’m gonna give Deepwater Horizon a 9/10. Also coming up, I’m gonna review another movie pretty soon, that review will be out in just a few days. I just need to see that movie before I review it. I’m either going to review Sully, The Girl on the Train, or Denial. Which one will I review? Find out in just a few days! Until then, stay tuned. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!