A corporate defense attorney takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.... (Full plot summary below)
Enjoy FREE movies and series with your Prime (USA) subscription or when you start a 30-day free trial!
A corporate defense attorney takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.
Leave your thoughts about Dark Waters.
| ObserverRex ReedRiveting, responsible and deeply unsettling, a first-rate film like Dark Waters is a rare and welcome chapter in the dramatic fabric of how one unlikely person can make a big dent in the world of social injustice. |
| San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonThe brilliance of Dark Waters is that it is able to lay out the case against DuPont without getting too wonky. |
| Movie NationRoger MooreA great movie like Dark Waters reminds us of what happened, of just what the “system” failed to do to safeguard us. And it reminds us of what a legal crusade looks like — a years-long grind of discovery, depositions, evidence and trials, and to be thankful for dogged, dull pluggers like Robert Bilott who stopped a mass murder in progress, armed with only a degree from “a no name law school.” |
| VarietyOwen GleibermanWhat gives Dark Waters its singular texture is that Todd Haynes (“Carol,” “Far From Heaven”), who has never made a drama remotely like this, colors in the scenario with an underlying dimension of personalized obsession. |
| The AtlanticDavid SimsAs a piece of pure exposition, Dark Waters is interesting enough. But around the hard work and do-goodery, Haynes also provides a sense of crushing dread—the kind of unsolvable paranoia these procedure-bound movies usually work to counter. |
| The Observer (UK)Simran HansRuffalo optioned the rights to Nathaniel Rich’s original article and has an executive producer credit on the film; clearly, he has a stake in the material. The actor is excellent as reluctant hero Bilott, muting his natural charisma to create a character who is both taciturn and generous, determined but socially ill at ease. |
| The GuardianPeter BradshawDark Waters is a movie that works marvellously well within its own generic terms, and perhaps after the fey disappointment of Todd Haynes’s previous, rather insufferable fantasy Wonderstruck, this tough, clear movie was what Haynes needed to clear his creative palate. |
| The Film StageGlenn Heath Jr.While Dark Waters often suffers mightily for being so inert, it always manages to circumvent lulls by embracing Bilott’s persistence, which works as an anecdote to corporate America, whose stranglehold over the country comes through in Edward Lachman’s deathly grey visuals defined by lifeless rural vistas. |
| Film ThreatBradley GibsonHaynes carefully navigates the risky terrain of presenting real people (who are still among us) and facts in a scripted feature film, artfully blurring the lines between documentary and drama. |
| Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzHaynes plays up the melodrama, and the film moves along without a lot of surprises. But that gives it a certain momentum — a momentum personified by Bilott in the storage room, sorting through boxes. It’s not flashy, but it’s how you get the job done. |
