Deepwater Horizon

Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich and Kate Hudson star in this high-octane drama that tells the story of the largest oil spill in US history and one of the world's most devastating man-made environmental catastrophes. Riddled with tension and teeming with terrific characters, director Peter Berg's tale of corporate negligence and inspiring heroism offers a rare blend of big-budget spectacle and thought-provoking commentary.

It is April 2010. The Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling unit lays some 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. An air of unease hangs in the air as workers clash with British Petroleum executives over questions of due diligence. Eyes clearly fixed on the bottom line, BP's bullying bigwig (Malkovich at his snarling best) wants to expedite the tests and get drilling.

Meanwhile, the veteran foremen (Wahlberg and Russell) are primarily concerned about their co-workers' safety — but will they defy orders when millions of dollars are on the line?

While one can deduce what happens next, the getting there makes for electrifying cinema. Disaster strikes and the Coast Guard is called in, but it is up to those already aboard to save as many lives as possible before the entire rig goes up in flames.

Following his lacerating war film Lone Survivor, Berg reasserts his gift for marshalling vast resources, shifting seamlessly from scenes of verbal confrontation to bracing action set pieces. Through Wahlberg (a featured guest in this year's In Conversation With... programme) and Russell, he channels characters of working-class integrity that you can genuinely root for; not because they possess special powers but, rather, because they are ordinary people faced with an extraordinary crisis — and they refuse to back down.