The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
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(Cert 15, 130 mins)
Desperate times demand resourceful women in Widows, a glossy heist thriller based on the 1980s TV series created by Lynda LaPlante.
Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl, and director Steve McQueen co-write a script that transplants the intrigue and betrayal from London to the gleaming apartments and deprived neighbourhoods of Chicago.
Two breathlessly-staged robberies bookend the picture but it’s a slow burn in between as the plot manoeuvres characters into position for a bloodspattered end game.
Career criminal Harry Rawlins (Liam Neeson) spearheads the theft of $2 million with a crew comprising Florek Gunner (Jon Bernthal), Carlos Perelli (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and Jimmy Nunn (Coburn Goss). The job goes sour in a hail of Swat team bullets and the robbers perish in an acetylene-fuelled fireball. The money is incinerated with them.
Shortly after Harry’s wife Veronica (Viola Davis) buries her husband, she receives a visit from crime boss Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry). He is standing for election in the city’s eighth district against Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell), son of crooked politician Tom Mulligan (Robert Duvall). Jamal says Harry stole the $2m from him and he wants Veronica to replace the missing funds or suffer grievous consequences.
Armed with a notebook containing plans for Harry’s next robbery, Veronica assembles a new crew including Carlos’s wife Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) and Florek’s wife Alice (Elizabeth Debicki).
Widows is a stylish portrait of crime and punishment with fine performances from Davis, Rodriguez and Debicki.