Review of Dark Waters (2019) by Compi24 — 10 Dec 2019

When done correctly, average movies like this can inform, intrigue, and alarm, allowing the audience a better chance at a perspective they'd not considered before. "Dark Waters," though, is simply not your average investigative thriller.

There's a kernel of truth at the center of this story that's so damning and vile, it would take a real class "F" filmmaker to mess up the translation and impact of what's important here. That's not to say director Todd Haynes's presence is never felt.

He simply knows that the mere existentiality of this story itself is all the audience needs to stay in their seats. Whereas in other, lesser films you'd be informed. Here, you're upended. Instead of being intrigued, here, you're spellbound.

Horrified instead of alarmed. And as far as widened perspectives are concerned? How about trying a major paradigm shift on for size in the form of this harrowing cinematic treatise on unchecked power, the pursuit for truth, and the tragic, infrastructural downward spiral taking place in so many parts of the American Rust Belt.

Perhaps I'm just ridiculously uninformed, but I was utterly floored upon finishing this movie. It's an absolute feat for the subgenre, and one that should be seen by all.