(This review may contain spoilers).
This film was very intense to watch. I couldn’t have said I enjoyed it, but it kept me on the edge of my seat for the majority of it.
I liked the opportunity to see bits and pieces of some of the crew’s family life and superstitions before they moved to the oil rig. It was interesting to get something of an idea of how the oil rig actually worked… but my knowledge is virtually non-existent, so I have no idea how much of that was true to reality.
It was also interesting to see the way the company cut corners when it came to safety… at least in the movie. Once everything started going wrong, though, it was really difficult to differentiate between the characters… and a lot of the film was spent with me trying to figure out who, of the people I got to know, was doing what.
The atmosphere of this movie was a really intense one and although I didn’t know how true to the reality the movie stayed (with the injuries, for instance), I found myself wincing along with the characters. I felt engaged with the movie from the start… helped by things like seeing Mike with his wife and daughter and Andrea with her car.
A lot of the movie did seem to focus more on setting it up for the explosion. I did find my attention dragging a little at times and I wasn’t sure about the roles everyone had.
It was good to see those on the outside, such as the coastguard and Mike’s family. It was also interesting to see the outside of the oil rig and what the explosion looked like from the different angles.
I’m not sure I’d watch this movie again. It was very intense to watch the first time through, though, and I felt it was portrayed and acted well.
Ink of Blood 