Widows revolves around a group of women whose husbands die in a failed robbery attempt, and the women decide to pull off the heist their husbands failed to do after mobsters come after them for the money. Widows caught my attention months ago even before the trailer because I actually am a fan of the Lynda La Plante British miniseries from the 1980s. That miniseries starred Ann Mitchell as the hard-nosed, no-nonsense Dolly Rawlins, the widow who assembles the group and plans out the entire heist. For Steve McQueen's film, it is Viola Davis who takes the lead, this time as Veronica Rawlins. The other widows accompanying her are Elizabeth Debicki as subservient Alice and Michelle Rodriguez as now single mother, Linda. After Carrie Coon's fourth widow backs out of the heist, singer/actress Cynthia Erivo's Belle is brought onto the crew. Notably, Liam Neeson stars in well-integrated flashbacks as Harry Rawlins, Veronica's late husband who was killed on the job. In this film, there is a political subplot revolving around a race for mayor between Colin Farrell's Jack Mulligan (constantly critiqued by his blatantly racist father, played by Robert Duvall) and Brian Tyree Henry's Jamal Manning. Jamal's brother, Jatemme, is a murderous thug played by Daniel Kaluuya of Get Out fame. The cast has some other notable actors in smaller roles.
I'm a self-professed fan of heist films, because they can offer nail-biting tension and high emotional stakes for the parties involved. I especially love when the characters having to pull off the heist are an unlikely bunch, as with the miniseries and with this film. Ultimately, Widows is a very effective film and adaptation, with the screenplay written by Gillian Flynn, author of the wonderfully twisted Gone Girl novel and screenplay. It works best when focusing on the widows' daily lives and their planning of the heist, as well as the mounting tension when the mobsters get impatient. The film is definitely pro-feminist, but it does not beat you over the head with that. These women are presented as people first, and in a dire situation that we want to see them get out of. For me, as great as Viola Davis was, Elizabeth Debicki stole the show as initially meek Alice, whom we see grow a backbone and showcase unexpected cleverness and tenacity throughout the film. Of the roles I've seen Debicki in, this is a career-defining performance for her, and she is a dark horse candidate for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar next year. Standing at 6'3", she makes for an imposing robber when the heist finally does go down. Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Erivo fit their roles very well, but they are less prominent compared to Davis and Debicki. The political storyline is interesting, if not as engaging as the build-up to the heist and the resulting heist. Kaluuya is terrifying as Jatemme Manning, a villain who kills ruthlessly not for pleasure, but out of necessity (for him). There's literally nothing in his eyes when he does these things.
Ultimately, I think McQueen excels with the build-up to the heist, and despite this being his first foray into this genre, I felt he excelled with flying colors with the heist scene itself. The heist is not the least of the film's great camerawork/cinematography, and it was actually shot at night to add to the feeling. The women wear all black, from combat boots to masks to fatigues and hoods, and the voice changers and the way they lumber into the house truly makes them sound and look like a team of men, which is their intention. The great thing about the heist is that it is quick (as though a documentary, adding to the sense of urgency), and while [[[SPOILER]]] the women pull it off, a number of things go wrong in the process, which adds to the believability that even though these women pull off a seemingly impossible heist, they are not completely smooth with it. Along the way, there are many twists and turns that I knew were coming only because they were in the miniseries, but those who have not seen that and are watching this film first may be surprised. The big twist is very well handled here.
As for flaws, my main one has to do with a subplot involving Harry and Veronica's son who was of mixed race and wrongly shot and killed by a police officer. McQueen makes plenty of social commentary, and some of it feels quite seamlessly integrated into the narrative, but I felt like this added storyline felt a bit shoehorned into the movie. It didn't fit quite as well into the script as I would have liked, and I could have done without it. That said, things do come full circle by the end, and I was much more accepting of that plot point by the end. So that is a very minor quibble for me.
Overall, Steve McQueen's version of Widows works very well, and in spite of a small misstep, is still one of my favorite movies of 2018; consider that I have seen more movies in theaters this year than any year prior, having previously had MoviePass (RIP...) and now A-List (love it). While 12 Years a Slave is what many will consider a better and more significant film, I prefer Widows if not only for sheer re-watchability. While I enjoyed Ocean's 8 more than most, Widows is undoubtedly the better film and it handles the female empowerment aspect much more deftly. This will be a definite Blu-Ray buy for me. Widows gets an 8.5/10, or B+!
No comments:
Post a Comment