*This is a true story

IMDB Synopsis

A tenacious attorney uncovers a dark secret that connects a growing number of unexplained deaths to one of the world’s largest corporations. While trying to expose the truth, he soon finds himself risking his future, his family and his own life.

They Knew about it and they did nothing! I was giddy when I heard Mark Ruffalo’s Rob Bilott utter this sentence because it opened up the They Knew Cinematic Universe!

I kid I kid, but let me tell you Juicers I was excited to see the new movie Dark Waters, not only because of the great cast, but since it is filmed in the GREAT CITY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

Ok we got all that out of the way? Good.

Dark Waters is the new movie by Todd Haynes (based off this New York Times Article) that tells the story of Corporate Defense Attorney Rob Bilott’s conquest against PFOA aka the chemical in Teflon that gives people cancer and other diseases. We see him battle Dupont and other chemical companies, while also battling his firm, and his family life at home.

This movie is directly out of the All The President’s Men/Spotlight playbook of a legal thriller that uncovers a disgusting situation. The main difference with this movie than the aforementioned ones, is that this movie takes place over a much longer period of time. That is because the case in a sense is still going, but it hurt the movie for me because the time jumps continuously felt more clunky as the movie went along.

The movie is broken up into two parts, the first half being a case Bilott takes for a family friend in West Virginia investigating the death of his cows. This leads Bilott to discover the Dupont situation and how they are effectively poisoning us all. That leads to the second half with tackles the class action suit Bilott led for the victims of this poisoning. The whole time you are cringing thinking about how this has affected not only your life but everyone around you.

The first half is much stronger than the second in my opinion, but you still walk out of the theater sick to your stomach.

Stock Watch

Stock Neutral – Mark Ruffalo

He is the Hulk, so basically reprising his Spotlight role is not going to do much for him here. He is great in this as usual, and it was great to see him out of the Green for awhile. It really reminds you he is a fantastic actor.

* A Couple other tidbits

• I could not understand a word Bill Camp said in this movie.
• Tim Robbins and Anne Hathaway both had relatively small roles in this. They were great as usual though.
• Bill Pullman from the clouds!
• Lotta good Ohio stuff here, I saw Graeters Ice Cream in there, and I saw Buckeyes on table at a party.
• I loved the Dark score by Marcelo Zarvos.

This has vibes of the classic legal thrillers, but to know I personally lived through this story is disgusting. It really makes you just think, how could humans do this to each other?

Juice Rating:

*You can find all of my Movie Ratings here.

*You can follow me on Letterboxd here.