The opening sequence of Widows had me intrigued. A group of criminals is killed during a botched robbery, leaving their respective widows to grieve. These women have never met each other, as their husbands kept their illicit behavior to themselves. But, when the crime boss they ripped off comes to collect his stolen money, it’s up to them to come up with the cash. They find themselves forced into a world they don’t exactly understand, but in a nice twist, their gender puts them nearly above suspicion.
Widows has a really great hook. The plan – a group of women pulling off the heist their dead husbands had planned next – is top-notch genre entertainment. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of unnecessary plot added, causing the premise to unravel as the film progresses. Most of the tacked-on extras are interesting and entertaining (the whole corrupt political machine aspect for example), but ultimately fizzle out, adding very little to the story. Others seem overly gratuitous in more ways than one (I’m looking at you, Lukas Haas). I suppose some of this is due to director Steve McQueen’s apparent attempt at adhering to ‘70s genre conventions, but the balance is off. Yes, by all means, have a racist politician pulling strings in disenfranchised neighborhoods, but stick to your guns. Go for the gold. Don’t hedge.
These lapses in story aren’t exactly killers, but they take away from what’s great about Widows. There’s a refreshing visual flair at work that you don’t see every day. In one scene, white politician Jack Mulligan (Colin Ferrell) is leaving a speech in the impoverished, mostly black ward in which he’s a candidate for alderman. As the expensive SUV drives, Mulligan argues with his aid. The camera never enters the truck – it remains poised on the front passenger side of the windshield. A minute or so later, the camera shifts to the front driver’s side, where we get a glimpse of the black driver. We also notice that in a very short span of time and distance (just a handful of city blocks), the truck is now in a very wealthy neighborhood – Mulligan’s neighborhood. It’s a statement piece on wealth disparity and affluence, but on top of that, it’s brilliant filmmaking.
Widows is full of great expositional innuendo hidden in plain sight. McQueen has something on his mind and he’s not afraid to show it to you with plenty of style and panache. He also gets plenty from his cast. Viola Davis is perfection as Veronica Rawlings – the former wife of criminal team leader Harry Rawlings (Liam Neeson). She has a way of convincingly portraying multiple emotions at once. On her face, you can see both the take-charge attitude necessary to pull off their crazy scheme and the fear and insecurity that comes with having a crime boss on your tail and not knowing what the hell you’re doing. She commands respect (and gets it) while remaining vulnerable and human. And human characters in a genre caper movie isn’t an easy thing to pull off. The rest of her team, Linda, Alice, and Belle (Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Delbicki, and Cynthia Erivo) are just as believable – especially considering the far-out notion of what Veronica has proposed they attempt. They’re developed to the point that it’s perfectly reasonable that they’d consider a crime of this magnitude.
The rest of the cast is good too, with Ferrell and Robert Duval standing out. Their aberrant political dynasty subplot may be disappointingly superfluous, but their presence is welcome as the racist Boss of Chicago types. Brian Tyree Henry and Daniel Kaluuya are nearly as good as sibling criminals with varying degrees of political faith who manage complimentary levels of malice and ruthlessness. Rounding it out is Liam Neeson channeling his inner Neeson to deliver a perfectly acceptable Liam Neeson character.
There’s a twist at the end that’s hardly a twist because it’s inexplicably revealed 30 minutes too early, but even that can’t sink this ship. Widows is a fun, smart movie with a voice. Its treatment of female relationships is a breath of fresh air, and even with its missteps manages to pull off a good throw-back heist story. It also features a few scenes in bowling alley-turned-legendary- ‘90s-punk-venue, Fireside Bowl – so keep your eyes peeled for that.
James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.