While some folks were quick to criticize Dark Waters as being more workmanlike and procedural than Haynes’ other films, the dialed-back approach is deliberately subdued, allowing the stark reality of this gravely drastic situation to ring true, haunting and sincere.
As a result, this is an effectively reserved movie, though certainly not an artless one.
A starkly muted, yet nonetheless meaningful, critique of corporate capitalism, particularly in the rotten ways it can seep unwanted residue into the lives of everyday Americans, Dark Waters is the sort of commendably calculated, smartly crafted mature drama that seem to be more and more rarefied as the years go on.