Anything with Kurt Russell in it is has a head start as far as I'm concerned. He's fantastic in this. Smart as a whip and tough as nails. Just what I'd expect. I'm also turning into a Mark Wahlberg fan. He's the headliner here. He's really likable and plays a character that is perfect, I guess. Well, this movie is based on a true story so I'm not sure if the person he is portraying is flawless, but then, there's no time to explore that anyway. Nice work, Wahlberg.

I didn't realize until the movie ended that it was directed by Peter Berg. No doubt he learned some disaster on the water lessons from directing "Battleship" (I'm only sort of kidding). "Deepwater Horizon" not surprisingly paints the company BP as greedy, careless, assholes. Still, the focus is on the survival of the main characters so sanctimonious soap-boxing, moralizing or preaching is minimal. It's kind of refreshing. Oh, there's plenty of glares and stares passed between the BP corporate types and the bust-their-nuts Deepwater crew. But ultimately mistakes get made, whether caused by greed or stupidity, and everyone is forced to react to the Hell exploding around them.

And speaking of explosions, Berg levels the rig with mud, oil and fire. I don't know if he embellishes to extremes or not, but the chaos he creates on-screen is impressive.

"Deepwater Horizon" is a satisfying movie. The fact that it's based on a true story adds to its effectiveness, but it would be good even if it were total fiction.