'Deepwater Horizon' is a slam-bang action movie

Fans of 'The Towering Inferno' will find a lot to like in 'Deepwater,' which centers on Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell as two old-school stalwarts who spend a great deal of screen time dodging mud, fire, bulletlike bolts, and collapsing derricks.

In April 2010, BP’s oil platform off the Louisiana coast massively exploded into the Gulf of Mexico, creating the worst oil spill in US history. Now we have the slam-bang action movie “Deepwater Horizon,” which is directed by Peter Berg and stars Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell as two old-school stalwarts who spend a great deal of screen time dodging mud, fire, bulletlike bolts, and collapsing derricks.

Their chief adversary is the greedy, heedless BP executive played by John Malkovich in his finest slinky-slimy mode. At its best, the movie is like “The Towering Inferno” but without all the sudsy subplots that doused that film’s fires. Grade: B+ (Rated PG-13 for prolonged intense disaster sequences and related disturbing images, and brief strong language.)