Official Site

Plot Summary: Set in contemporary Chicago, amidst a time of turmoil, four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands' criminal activities, take fate into their own hands, and conspire to forge a future on their own terms.

Director: Steve McQueen

Writers: Steve McQueen, Gillian Flynn

Runtime: 2h 9min

Main Cast:

• Viola Davis as Veronica
• Michelle Rodriguez as Linda
• Elizabeth Debicki as Alice
• Liam Neeson as Harry Rawlings
• Jon Bernthal as Florek
• Robert Duvall as Tom Mulligan
• Colin Farrell as Jack Mulligan
• Brian Tyree Henry as Jamal Manning
• Daniel Kaluuya as Jatemme Manning

Review by: Chris F

From its announcement and cast reveal I was completely in for WIdows. Director Steve McQueen wowed me with his film Shame and though I didnt see 12 Years A Slave its oscar win was another reason to be a fan of the black director. Casting Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, and my new favorties: Brian Tyree Henry and Daniel Kaluuya made it a gaurantee that this film would be on my list. After seeing it, I will say this is a very interesting film. What appears to be a typical revenge, heist film in the trailers, reveals itself to be a film that has something to say....and it wants to say a lot. A puzzling film that took a whle for me to wrap my head around, still manages to be a crown pleaser and showcase some fantastic acting.

Tweet

Viola Davis plays Veronica, the Widow of Liam Neeson’s Harry Rawlings, leader of a crew of thieves. After Harry and his crew die in a job gone wrong, Veronica and the other widows of the crew are forced to deal with the money their husbands stole as well as putting their lives back together. Local politcial candidate Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) is the man that money belongs to and he wants it back and its up to Veronica to pay it back. She rallies the other widows to attempt to plan a new job to get the money and find themselves wrapped up in a battle for the city of Chicago.

What I Liked:

As stated above, the cast in this film is AMAZING. Viola Davis continues to show her mastery of emotion, showing a wide range of feelings and mood swings so effortlessly. Her character Veronica is often pushed to many different emotional limits, from anger, fear, and vulnerability and Davis captures it all. There are a few scenes of her in mourning that are powerful and add more depth and meaning to the story as it develops further. Continuing to impress me Daniel Kaluuya steals the show as the brother of Brian Tyree Henry’s character. His first villainous role, Kaluuya has a devasting presence on screen, owning it whenever he is around. His character has some of the best scenes of the movie and I am looking forward to him playing a bad guy more. Rounding out the cast are some big names playing relatively small parts. Robert Duvall plays an older politician and father to Colin Ferrel’s character and though stereotypically presented as allegories for political dynasties, these two actors play it incredibly well, envoking history between the two. The other titular widows fare well in this film as well, considering some newer names and faces playing well off established veterans. Michelle Rodriguez is solid as usual with Elizabeth Debicki doing a damn fine job with the interesting character she is given. I can’t forget about Cynthia Erivo doing a FANTASTIC job as a newer member of the team. Just great acting all around.

This movie also has some amazing pacing and payoffs for a lot of its themes and messages. This is just as much about the dirt surrounding politics, the inner cities, misappropriation of funds, women empowerment, and racial dynamics as it is about the widows and their thieving husbands. The heist itself is just a piece of the bigger puzzle. It definitely feels like a lot is being thrown at the viewer at times, but the film does a great (yet not always subtle) job of balancing everything and making it clear what it wants to say. The opening scene is a good example of this, without too many spoilers we get moments with the husbands and their wives interspaced with the heist. We get a feel for each other the relationships that were broken by the deaths of the husbands and how those deaths impacted almost every area of these women’s lives. It’s a simple thing really, but it was a beautiful set up for the characters and their respective arcs, all while giving a bit of pathos of background for characters that are only seen in the beginning. These themes are consistent from their first introduction until the end, the city of Chicago itself and its inhabitants become just as much of a character of the leads themselves.

What I Didn’t Like:

Even though the film succeeds at making its messages clear, the execution does not always stick the landing. Some of the themes and how they are presented are very on the nose, which works sometimes but completely immersion breaking other times. There is a scene regarding a police shooting that though eventually worked on a character level, failed in its initial showing looking like a “ripped from the headlines” scene in Law and Order than an actual poignant moment. It’s disappointing because that presentation and just how casually it comes and goes takes any of the moments energy away. It happens a few times in the film, the way an idea is introduced is sometimes sloppy, but once it continues and it reaches its end, its settled nicely.

Another thing that kind of bugged me was how quickly some of the characters and situations were introduced and quickly disposed of. Things also seemed very coincidental and movie like, but that doesn’t really count as a mark against the film, just convenient placement of characters at odd times just seemed a bit hokey.

Images Courtesy of IMDB