On 20 April 2010, an explosion aboard the oil rig Deepwater Horizon ignited a fire that killed 11 crewman, writes Jason Day.

In former actor Berg's big-budget account of the efforts to save the remaining crew and stop the disaster from worsening (which unfortunately it did, resulting in the largest oil spill in history), we have an unexpectedly fair film which largely avoids the Brit-bashing, blame-mongering that permeated some US news coverage of the time.

It's a refreshing approach in which Berg, his writers and the production team use increasingly unsubtle means to tell us who was at fault (the tie of an oil big-wig matches the most serious alarm used on the rig, a team vacate the rig without completing an important task and, worse of all, the phones never work).

Eventually John Malkovich's wonderfully slimy and sweaty executive pummels home the message that he and the "bosses in London" (the only reference to the British bit of BP) don't care two oil barrels for safety and want to see results.

This film largely (and wisely) side-steps the political and legal finger-wagging that followed immediately after the initial stages of disaster and continues to this day.

The action sequences and sense of 'in your face' panic and problem solving are tightly directed and the suspense is wound up nicely in a solidly crafted disaster flick.