Widows is a slickly made thrilling ride
WIDOWS is an interesting direction from the British fiilmmaker Steve McQueen.
After his three films, Hunger, Shame and the Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave, he’s turned to genre with Widows.
Originally, a 1980’s television series by Linda LaPlante, it’s been adapted by Gone Girl writer Gilliam Flynn and McQueen as a heist movie with social, racial and political overtones.
The opening scenes are between Veronica (Viola Davis) and her husband Harry (Liam Neeson) making love.
Cut to an obviously recently bashed Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and her husband (John Bernthal).
And then there’s Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) and her loser husband, and Amanda (Carrie Coon) with her husband going off to work.
All these scenes are intercut with a getaway from a heist which results in all four men being incinerated.
In the fallout Veronica discovers that Harry has stolen $2 million from aspiring politician Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) and he wants it back. She has a month to get it. When she discovers Harry’s meticulous notebook of his criminal activities, with other useful information, she decides to rope in Alice and Linda to help get a stash for the bereft widows.
Also in the mix is Belle (Cynthia Erivo) and Daniel Kaluuya of Get Out and Black Panther fame, who is diabolically good as Jamal’s enforcer brother.
Meanwhile back on the hustlings is Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell) whose family has ruled local politics in that area for generations.
His father (Robert Duvall) is an old and corrupt hard-ass who expects Jack to continue the family traditions.
Steve McQueen comes from a visual arts background and it shows.
Working with his regular cinematographer Sean Bobbit, his images are dynamic and inventive.
The characters are textured, the performances are all solid.
Robert Duvall is a joy to see, and the women are convincing Elizabeth Debicki is really making her mark on international cinema.
And at the heart you have Viola Davis as a woman twice wronged who wants revenge.
This is a slickly-made, thrilling ride in the cinema.