Eighties TV classic Widows gets a big screen remake

CERT 15, 130 MINUTES, IN CINEMAS 6 NOVEMBER

Starring: Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo Director: Steve Mcqueen

THE PLOT When their career-criminal husbands are killed committing their latest robbery, four Chicago women face an uncertain future. In particular, Veronica (Davis) is in dire jeopardy if she can’t return $2m stolen from the political campaign of a candidate with a dubious past. Her solution: round up the other widows and together commit an audacious heist that had long been plotted by her spouse (Liam Neeson). WHAT’S RIGHT WITH IT? Considering Steve Mcqueen’s last movie, Twelve Years A Slave, won the Best Picture Oscar, it’s a refreshing surprise to see the A-list director take on a 1980s Lynda La Plante ITV series as his source material. And, of course, talent-magnet Mcqueen has attracted a class cast, including Colin Farrell as an establishment Chicago politician facing a challenge from plucky adversary Manning (Brian Tyree Henry). Most memorable of all is Manning’s psychotic enforcer, played by that nice-guy Brit Daniel Kaluuya – we’ll never think of him quite the same way again! WHAT’S WRONG WITH IT? As a heist thriller, Widows offers only modest portions of thrills, and rather more in the way of socially conscious characterdriven drama. That’s all good, but don’t be misled.

VERDICT On this evidence, Widows probably doesn’t herald a permanent segue for Mcqueen into genre filmmaking, but this is smart, resonant, compelling storytelling.