Widows should've been an easy sell. Academy Award winning director Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave) and writer Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects) are both still riding success from their previous works and they've put together an ensemble cast of brilliant actresses and actors for what was advertised as a heist movie. Who wouldn't want that? Now, obviously, there's more to it than your typical heist movie, but how is a movie with these names attached not tempting enough? Hell, I'll pretty much watch anything Viola Davis is in, but along with her you've got Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Carrie Coon, Daniel Kaluuya, and Brian Tyree Henry. Most of these people are either recognizable names or faces or both. Most of these people are riding their own success waves as well. But somehow Widows is falling by the cinema wayside and it's a shame because Widows is a very good movie.
Widows tells the story of four women (Davis, Rodriguez, Debicki, and Coon) whose criminal husbands are all killed during a heist. This heist, unfortunately, revolved around ripping off a criminal-turned-politician who wants his money back. So, he sends his brother, the muscle, (Get Out's Kaluuya) to intimidate the women and tell them they've got one month to bring him two million dollars. Davis's character finds her husband's notebook with detailed plans for a 5 million dollar score. She gathers the other widows together to pull off the heist. What separates Widows from all the other run-of-the-mill
heist/action movies is that its focal point is not the heist. It's not
the bad guy or his cronies intimidating these women into pulling a heist
for him. It's not the montages of planning and executing the heist and
getting around all of the unexpected obstacles. It's not the shootouts
or action sequences. It's about the characters. It's about these women
who have lost everything trying to keep it together to get a job done - a
job they've no expertise or experience in - in order to not only move
on with their lives, but survive. Each character is layered with so much
depth, every one of them could have their own standalone movie.
The leader of the pack is Viola Davis, whose husband (Neeson) was the leader of his. Not only is she dealing with the death of her husband, but this comes on the heels of the still-lingering mourning of the death of their son by police. She's the one who's lost the most, but also the one who has to put on the toughest face. She turns ice cold, treating the other women as if they're nothing but pieces of a business transaction, but inside there's fire and rage. Viola Davis is one of the most watchable actors I've witnessed in a long time. Her performance in Fences, as well as this one will straight-up wreck you. Michelle Rodriguez, who I've long since considered a throw-away actress due to her Fast and Furious resume actually shows she's not just a typecast actor and can really bring it when she has to. Elizabeth Debicki, who I wasn't really familiar with before this film, also brings the goods. Her character is used an abused by everyone around her (including her late husband and her mother), and she's the one we watch have an actual mental and physical transformation. All of these women find strength through loss, but none of them have more of a powerful change than Debicki's character.
Then there's also the men of the film. A side-plot involving an election race for Alderman between Colin Farrell's character and Brian Tyree Henry's character (which connects to the main plot in several ways) showcases just how good these actors are as well. Farrell is always good and even better when he's playing a sleaze. Henry brings the intensity even behind his kind face. The two (not-so) surprising performances come from Robert Duvall, who plays Farrell's reprehensible father and Kaluuya, the muscle and the one who enacts Henry's evil deeds. Kaluuya is an actor to continue watching out for. He already showed us the goods in Get Out, but we get to see a different side to him here. You'd think he wouldn't be right to play a killer who gets off on toying with victims, but every time he's on screen, your heart will leap into your throat. Hell, even Liam Neeson, who gets almost no screen time in this film is great. It's been a long time since we've seen an ensemble cast this great outside of a Marvel film really come together to breathe even better life into an already great story.
The story is slow moving, but it's intense. And there are a lot of sub-plots to follow, but most of them come together in the end. The only real complaint I have is that there are so many sub-plots that not all of them get tied up in the end. I still had a few questions. There's even one big lingering question that doesn't get answered and it's frustrating because this movie gets you so invested in its characters you want to make sure you have a clear outlook on the outcomes of each one. Other than that, McQueen and Flynn deliver a taut thriller that really is derived from their previous work. It's got the dark feel and twists and turns of Gone Girl and the dramatic prowess of McQueen's previous films that come together to make a truly intense and remarkable movie that should be doing a lot better in the box office. The theaters are going to be packed for the big Disney and Harry Potter releases for awhile, so if you want to see an excellent film that isn't going to be packed to the brim, then I certainly say Widows is the way to go.
A-
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