By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
When an explosion on April 10, 2010, ignited the “Deepwater Horizon” oil rig, the blowout lasted 87 days, leaking 4.9 million gallons into the Gulf, resulting in the worst ecological disaster in American history.
Told through the perspective of Chief Electronics Technician Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg), it begins as he bids goodbye to his wife (Kate Hudson) and young daughter, hoping to snag a ‘dinosaur bone’ for her to show to her class in school.
Preparing to be transported to the enormous rig, just off the Louisiana coast, he greets co-worker Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez) and reports for duty to Captain “Mr. Jimmy” Harrell (Kurt Russell), who, ironically, is presented with a workplace Safety Award, just before the “well from hell” bursts.
Conversing in terse, indecipherable, technical jargon, it’s obvious that certain “negative pressure tests,” along with other maintenance procedures, were not properly performed because of monetary pressure.
According to the crew, the rig is held together “with Band-Aids and bubble gum.”
Since the drilling rig is owned by Transocean and leased to British Petroleum (BP), company exec Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich) is concerned that the project is already behind schedule to start pumping oil.
“We’re confident about the integrity of the cement,” Vidrine says, but pressure is building deep below and a monumental catastrophe is lurking.
Taking cues from Irwin Allen disaster movies like “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972) and “The Towering Inferno” (1974), screenwriters Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand, along with director Peter Berg, take time to introduce the motivations of their primary characters.
After the accident occurs, chaos ensues. Enrique Chediak’s handheld cinematography blends convincingly with Craig Hammack’s visual effects, while Wylie Statemen’s deafening noise obliterates everything amid explosions, fireballs, gushing oil, oozing mud and collapsing metal towers.
Eventually, Williams’ rugged heroics saves several lives, yet 11 men died and what happened to the rest is anyone’s guess.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Deepwater Horizon” is a suspenseful 7 with edge-of-your-seat tension.
Impressed by Akira Kurosawa’s Japanese classic “Seven Samurai” (1954), director John Sturges adapted the idea into “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), as Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, Horst Buchholtz and Brad Dexter protect a small village from Mexican banditos, led by charismatic Eli Wallach.
In 2016’s “The Magnificent Seven,” Antoine Fuqua (“The Equalizer,” “Training Day”) saddles up seven gunslingers, hired by a spunky, vengeful widow, Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), to save a ransacked mining town from Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), a rich, rapacious industrialist.
Set in 1879, as the frontier outpost of Rose Creek is besieged, a prologue quickly establishes how ruthless and evil the villain is before introducing the heroic, multi-racial protagonists.
Bounty-hunter Sam Chisholm (Denzel Washington) recruits Josh Faraday (Chris Platt), a roguish, hard-drinking Irish gambler (Chris Pratt); Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), a twitchy Confederate sharp-shooter; Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), a Korean knife-expert; Vasquez (Manuel Garcia Rulfo), a Mexican outlaw; Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), a cantankerous tracker; and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), a renegade Comanche warrior.
Unevenly scripted, it’s filled with archetypal characters yet lacks nuanced exposition. So it’s left to capable Denzel Washington to propel the camaraderie, particularly when they’re preparing the terrified townsfolk – aptly characterized as “farmers, not fighters” – for Bogue’s inevitable invasion.
Amid the frenzied action, James Horner’s score is evocative and it’s only near the conclusion that he utilizes Elmer Bernstein’s iconic, instantly recognizable, unforgettably haunting music.
On the Granger Gauge, “The Magnificent Seven” is a shoot-em-up 6, supplying a spectacular barrage of bullets.
“Storks” refers to when children asked where babies came from and parents answered: “The stork delivered them.” But times change and, as the bundle-of-joy business became less profitable, hard-working storks began delivering packages from Cornerstone.com, an Amazon-like on-line retailer.
Plus, there was a hushed-up scandal about Jasper (Danny Trejo), a stork who, long ago, became so attached to a baby girl he was supposed to transport that he kept her for himself.
That’s why now-18 year-old Tulip (Katie Crown) grew up on Stork Mountain. While yearning to find her intended human family, she’s become Cornerstone’s clumsiest, most accident-prone employee. The boss, Hunter (Kelsey Grammer), wants to get rid of her so he dispatches Junior (Andy Samberg) to do it.
Meanwhile, lonely Nate Gardner (Anton Starkman) yearns for companionship since his parents (Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell) are work-obsessed realtors. So he writes a letter begging for a baby brother. That’s why Tulip inadvertently re-activates the assembly line of the long-dormant infant factory, resulting in an adorably diapered dumpling, which she and Junior are determined to deliver.
The encounter plenty of obstacles, including Hunter’s tattling henchman, Pidgeon Toady (Stephen Kramer Glickman), and a ravenous pack of shape-shifting wolves, led by Alpha (Keegan-Michael Key) and Beta (Jordan Peele).
Scripted by Nicholas Stoller and directed by Stoller and Doug Sweetland, it’s a perceptively animated commentary on the changing aspects of family, emphasizing the wryly comedic aspects of parenting. Much of which goes over the heads of a kiddie audience.
On the Granger Gauge, “Storks” is a funny, frenetically-paced 5, stressing nurturing and compassion.
( Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
