Widows
There was a message on the front of Steve McQueen’s “Widows” from the director saying how this has been a passion project of his for many years. I’m not sure of why, exactly, but you can certainly not fault him for not giving the film his all. The director of “Shame” and “12 Years a Slave” has a clear vision to this thriller, and he directs a fantastic cast to strong work all the way around while giving us a crime drama from a different vantage point.
The film begins with a robbery in progress, as perpetrated by career criminal Harry Rawlings (Liam Neeson), whose wife, Veronica (Viola Davis), wakes up from bed without him. The crime in progress eventually finds Harry and his crew (played by Jon Bernthal, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Coburn Goss) in a police chase, and then cornered by the cops, who shoot at them, and blow up the van they were trying to get away in. We then meet the other widows of the crew- Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), whose store is being shut down when she discovers her husband left her with insurmountable gambling debts; Alice (Elizabeth Debicki), who is now struggling to survive financially; and Amanda (Carrie Coon), who just had a baby. The crime they were killed doing involved stealing $2 million from Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), a street guy who is racing against established legacy politician Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell) for 18th Ward Alderman in Chicago, and now, Manning wants that money back from Veronica in a month. Thankfully, Harry may have given her a way to raise it.
Actually, the more you think of the film, and as the film unfolds, you can see why McQueen was so taken to make a film based on the novel by Lynda La Plante. The screenplay he’s written with Gillian Flynn (who wrote Gone Girl and Sharp Objects) has a lot going on, particularly when it comes to the sometimes thin line between politics and crime, and especially with regards to the women left behind when men, and providers, die. Yes, the film plays out as something akin to Michael Mann’s “Heat,” which is how the trails play it, but this isn’t a film content to play out the old formulas of crime fiction, but dig deep into the lives of the characters whose lives it is chronicling. When it does delve into the violence and action of a robbery, McQueen’s filmmaking is on-point and exciting, with the cinematography by Sean Bobbitt and editing by Joe Walker giving us some terrific angles on the action that we haven’t really seen in a film like this before. The way he brings the film to life visually is part of why you keep enraptured from frame one.
What makes “Widows” so memorable, however, are the performances, starting with the three woman at the center of the story. Davis continues to be a force of nature, and Veronica gives her some meaty material to play with, especially when a surprise trip to Amanda’s apartment reveals a truth she doesn’t expect. Rodriguez has plenty of experience in tough woman action roles thanks to the “Fast and the Furious” films and “Avatar,” but McQueen and Flynn give her layers no other role has given her, and Rodriguez matches Davis beat-for-beat. The biggest shock, though, is newcomer Debicki as Alice. She is unassuming and lovely, but the glimpses of her with Bernthal and her mother show some issues with dominating personalities that Davis will push to the brink. Once she is part of the plan Veronica sets in motion, though, we see a side of her that shows Veronica, and even herself, that she’s capable of more. Debicki is the showstopper of the film, although Daniel Kaluuya as Manning’s brother, and chief enforcer, is icy and ruthless and riveting to watch. This is a fantastic overall cast, including Neeson, Farrell, Cynthia Erivo as a babysitter and hairdresser, and Robert Duvall as Farrell’s old-school father, whose retirement initiated this election. McQueen and his cast and crew make “Widows” an entertaining and intelligent drama about lives intersecting through chance, circumstances, and in attempts to wrestle further power in their respective lives. It’s well worth catching up with, when you can.
