Released by: Lionsgate
Release Date: September 30th, 2016 (Theatrical)
January 10th, 2017 (Blu-ray)
Region Code: REGION A (Blu-ray) REGION 1 (DVD)
Run Time: 2h 7m
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Video: 1080p (2.35:1 Aspect Ratio)
THE FEATURES [3 out of 4]
Beyond the Horizon
(51m 21s, HD)
This feature is broken up into smaller chunks for easier
digestion.
-Mark Wahlberg
-Kate Hudson
-Kurt Russell
-Gina Rodriguez
-Dylan O’Brien
This is being advertised on the back of the box as “hour
long making of” and that is where the lies start. As you can tell, this is less
than an hour long and it is more of a brownnosing effort than a making of.
Every little featurette spends the majority of the time having everyone else
talk about how great it was to work with so and so and how they came prepared.
I hate featurettes like this because it is strictly EPK stuff. I know that
there is not going to be anyone talking shit about the others, but I wish that
the people producing these special features would have a little more faith us.
Sometimes I think that they create special features like this one just to make
it look like there is more, when there really isn’t.
There is a bit of behind the scenes footage and I was happy
to have that. There isn’t much of it, but beggars can’t be choosers I guess. In
the long run, I don’t care how long the features are. I care about what they
are about, how much information is contained in those features. A bunch of
featurettes with the actors kissing each other’s asses is not meat. It is
nothing but empty calories.
Captain of the Rig:
Peter Berg (18m 15s, HD)
Now this is what I am talking about. Had the main feature
been anything like this feature, then maybe I wouldn’t have complained so much.
We get to see Berg in action in preproduction, figuring out with his DP and
other crew members, how they are going to create the rig in the film. (It is
mostly CGI, but they did build the bottom of the rig, that was 100 feet off the
ground, so that they had something to shoot with.) We then see Berg during
production, shooting everything that he needs (and a lot that he doesn’t need)
in order to put his vision on the screen. We don’t see any postproduction, but
these features are made during the filming so they are edited at the same time
the film is, so that is ok.
There is a lot to learn here.
The Fury of the Rig
(27m 20s, HD)
As I mentioned before, the crew built the bottom of the rig
so that Berg and crew had something to shoot with. Berg wanted to shoot as much
as he could and only relied on CGI when necessary (a lot of what we see on the
rig had to be CGI because of the weight of all the equipment.) We also learn
that they shot in Louisiana, during hurricane season. Luckily, nothing bad
happened. They also used huge LED projecting flames to light scenes with. I
really liked this doc. It is not as interesting as the previous one, but it
still gets us involved.
Deepwater
Surveillance (17m 40s, HD)
Each option starts off with some onscreen text explaining
what we are about to see.
-First Blowout
-First Blowout with Stunts
-Drill Deck Explosion
-Assistant Driller’s Shack Crash
-Main Methane Explosion
-Mr. Jimmy’s Shower
-Roughneck Rescue
-Mike and Caleb Restore the Power
-To the Lifeboats
-Andrea’s Jump
-Deepwater Timelapse
Each one of these is an “action cam” shot. Berg placed a
GoPro somewhere during the filming of the major stunts. He did this so that we
can see how these scenes are done. I was a little worried at first because
during the first one the camera got covered in mud and we couldn’t see
anything. Thankfully, it got better. I think that these were interesting, but I
don’t see myself going back and rewatching these.
Participant Media:
Work Like an American
-American Worker Tributes (16m 3s,
HD)
-Caleb
Holloway- Firefighter and Deepwater Horizon Survivor
-Les
Pryce- Ironworker
-Bill Reimels- Chief Live Line
Coordinator
-Darrell Holthusen- Logger
-Meredith Gregory- Gulf Fisherman
-Adam Donahue-
Journeyman/Electrical Foreman
-Marc Nunez- Machine Shop Owner and
Welder
I have seen most of the reviews for this feature as
“featuring the real life men (even though there is a woman profiled here too)
who are the subjects of the film”
While the first one, Caleb Holloway, was on the Deepwater
Horizon, and is portrayed in the film by Dylan O'Brien, none of the other ones
are in the film. This is supposed to a tribute to blue collar workers. Every
review that I looked at said almost the exact same thing when it came to
talking about this feature, which means that the reviewers didn’t actually
watch this. I mean, come on, one of the guys profiled works in New York. I just
hate that there are people who are supposed to do a job (review a blu-ray) and
they can’t be bothered with watching the actual features. Meanwhile, there are
people who take the job seriously and they are struggling to be read.
I didn’t actually mean to go on that rant, but I don’t want
to be lead into buying something because a reviewer didn’t watch everything. It
has happened before and that was one of the reasons I started to do the “Just
the Features” reviews. I wanted to be able to be the voice for someone who is
trying to decide whether or not to buy a release based on special features. I
know that my opinion has been swayed due to a lack of special features or
another country having a better edition.
Anyways, these small tributes are borderline propaganda.
They are trying to tell me that I am not “working like an American” because of
what I do for a living (I work in retail). I think that is a little bit much. I
know that these men and women do some of the roughest jobs in terms of life
threating danger, but try telling that to someone who works the overnight shift
at a gas station or a single mother who has to get up at the crack of dawn so
that she can work some soul crushing, minimum wage job so that she can put food
on the table. Thinking about that makes these tributes a bit shallow.
I Am A Steel Beam
with narration by director Peter Berg (1m 3s, HD)
This is a commercial of sorts profiles a steel beam.
I Am a Steel Beam
with narration by Gina Rodriguez (1m 3s, HD)
Same as the one above just with a different narrator.
THE PACKAGING [4 out
of 4]
 |
The front of the steelbook features star Mark Wahlberg in a
profile picture, his face slightly muddied up. His name placed above him. The
disaster is pictured within his body (look at the pics). The background is
white and the title and tagline (Based on a True Story of Real-Life Heroes) are
in black (except when the title runs over, into Wahlberg, then it turns white.)
The steelbook is glossy and likes to hold on to your fingerprints. I am not kidding. This thing will be covered in fingerprints no matter what you do.
 |
The back features the rig, on fire, at the top. A line runs
down the blackness that makes up the ocean until we see that oil is spilling
out of the end.
 |
The inside of the steelbook features the four stars of the
film, Walhberg, Kurt Russell, Gina Rodriguez, and John Malcovich, looking like
they have seen better days.
 |
The discs themselves, one blu-ray and one dvd, are placed on
either side of the case. Both discs feature Walhberg, again in a profile shot.
The blu-ray features him standing in front of the rig as it is blowing up. The
dvd features him standing in front of the American flag and the surrounding
fire.
The blu-ray is REGION
A while the dvd is REGION 1.
THE PICTURE [4 OUT OF
4]
There is no denying that Lionsgate has delivered a stunner
when it comes to the picture and the sound. Director Peter Berg has shot in a
few different aspect ratios, but the one he returns to time and time again is
the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and that is what we have here. The scenes that take
place before the disaster are beautifully photographed with an eye towards real
colors, resulting in a muted color palate. Once the disaster happens, the colors
come alive, with the reds and oranges taking lead. Detail is high and the
blacks are deep and no digital artifacts or manipulations to be found. This is
one impressive picture.
THE SOUND [4 out of
4]
Liosngate provides Dolby Atmos soundtrack and I think that
it made the neighbors go deaf. All kidding aside, this is one aggressive track.
Throughout the whole film, we feel a part of the world. Immersion is really
high. Once the disaster hits we are already in the thick and it gets better and
better. Very few times have I ever felt like I was with the characters on an
audible level. During all of this happening, the dialogue is never lost and
everything is clear and procise. Demo level sound.
THE FILM [3 out of 4]
Why do filmmakers feel that they can make a film about
something tragic that is still in the memories of the people that were a part
of said tragedy, but also those who watched it happen? This is something that
has been happening a lot lately and something that I have been thinking a lot
about.
We had two films about 9/11 within four years of the
disaster. That is really close. Some would say too close. There is no closure
for the families and then Hollywood comes and says that they are going to make
films about what happened, but only about what happened to certain people. I
understand that there would be no way to make a film or even a tv series about
everybody that was affected, but Hollywood could broaden their scope a little
bit.
Do you remember the shit storm that James Cameron had to go
through when Titanic was released?
No, not the fact that he made a slightly above average disaster film. There is
a person in the film there is a man by the name of William Murdoch. In the film
he is seen killing himself after shooting two other people. One of Murdoch’s descendants
demanded that James Cameron issue an apology because the descendant felt that
the film version of Murdoch was a dishonor to the family. Cameron did apologize bit said that there was
no way to tell if that is what happened, but there is also no way to prove it
either.
This is from a film that was made 80 years after the
disaster. What do you think the families of the BP oil spill (which is the
basis for this film) or the families of the victims of 9/11 thought about those
films being made. Read this article: http://www.cracked.com/article_24544_5-big-problems-with-hollywoods-addiction-to-tragedy-porn.html
to find out more.
Now, onto to Deepwater
Horizon.
The film is well made. Peter Berg has shown that he knows
his way around a film set. Being an actor himself, he is able to get
performances out of actors that most directors can’t. He is also very in tuned
with what makes a good film. He spends time with the characters before anything
happens to them. He takes the “slow burn” approach to his films.
I do think that in Deepwater
Horizon he stretches this approach to the point just before it snaps. This
film is two hours long and I will say that he spends at least an hour, if not
more, setting up the characters and the rig itself. This is all well and good.
I like a film that takes its time before sending us into the flames, but I
think that Berg spends a bit too much time setting the film up. There are a lot
of scenes that could have been cut that would have helped the film move at a
much brisker pace.
That is one of the few problems I have with the film. The
other problem is the casting of Mark Wahlberg. I have never bought Wahlberg as
an actor. Even in films like Boogie
Nights and The Departed, which
he was nominated for an Oscar. He also seems like he is acting and that is the
worst thing an actor can do. We are supposed to be drawn in by performances,
but with Wahlberg I am always aware that Wahlberg is on screen and not the
character that he is supposed to be playing. I don’t buy that he is an oil rig
worker. He just doesn’t hit the right bells for me.
Kurt Russell, on the other hand, is a legend. This man could
read me the dictionary and I would be on my toes the entire time. Russell exudes
cool and here he is no different. I believe that Russell knows everything about
this oil rig and takes it personally when the disaster happens. Also, there are
only a handful of actors that can pull off a mustache like the one Russell
sports here.
I liked Deepwater
Horizon. I think that it is a well made film that is effective and sad. I
do have to wrestle with the fact that this was made five years after the
disaster and I think that the filmmakers should have weighed that option when
making the film. I know that Berg and Company have the best intentions in mind,
but I feel for the people who have to watch this film who know a person who was
killed during this disaster. I also feel for the survivors. I hope that they
find this film cathartic and that it helps them rather than making them relive
a dark chapter in their lives, all for the sake of entertainment.
OVERALL [3.5 out of
4]
Deepwater Horizon
is a good film and a really good blu-ray. The picture and sound are some of the
best out there, but it is the special features that are lacking. The “hour long”
making of that isn’t an hour long and is nothing more than a glorified EPK.
Also the sentiment that American jobs are only the ones that are tough to do
rubs me the wrong way. There are some nice things to be found inside the special features, but I think that
they should have cut the “Work Like an American” BS and focused more on the
making of the film. That would have made this set a whole lot better. It isn’t
bad, but I expected more. Ultimately, it is worth a purchase because I have a feeling that this film will get better with age.
 (Target Exclusive Steelbook)){kind=link}
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