Widows

Barry Jenkins described Moonlight as bringing art house to the ghetto. Steve McQueen’s Widows can similarly be described as bringing art house to the heist thriller. McQueen takes the basic, familiar skeleton of a big Hollywood studio action flick and adds to it his signature Turner Prize winning flair. This marriage of popcorn entertainment and avant-garde filmmaking is not always completely smooth. There are a few places where the director is a little too self-indulgent, making choices that may alienate the less frequent moviegoers. In other instances, the script is structured in a way which the more discerning cinephiles might find cliched.

Helping McQueen craft this high wire act of a big screen thriller is Gillian Flynn, the screenwriter behind Gone Girl and Sharp Objects. She and McQueen did a terrific job of adapting Lynda La Plante’s 1983 six-part book series. Much like Gone Girl, Widows also exists to elicit audible gasps from the viewing public. The movie is filled with a smorgasbord of Chekhov's paraphernalia, inviting the audience to try and figure out what happens next.

The story follows three women, played by Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, and Elizabeth Debicki, who have just lost their husbands when a caper the men were involved in goes wrong. This leaves the titular widows with the responsibility of settling the debt that their departed husbands owe to some dangerous people in positions of power. Viola Davis is once again flawless as the lead. She is the one with the most screen time and she commands it like only someone with her talent can. She is a certified badass but not without delightful little sprinkles of vulnerability, fear, and heartbreak. She is ably supported by Rodriguez and Debicki who are perfectly cast. Rodriguez takes a character that could easily devolve into a tough latina stereotype and turns it into a well rounded relatable human. Debicki follows on from her stunning performance in The Tale by being effortlessly charismatic, charming and funny. She has that rare talent that, moving forward, will allow her to play more interesting supporting roles as well as leading her own films. Someone who is rather underused is Cynthia Erivo, especially in light of her incredible work in Bad Times at El Royale. However, she manages to squeeze every last drop of substance from whatever little material she had available.

The men in the ensemble are mostly criminals and malevolent politicians, and it looks like each of them had a blast playing their roles. Especially Daniel Kaluuya who plays a threatening and often laughably over the top sidekick of Bryan Tyree Henry’s Alderman candidate. Kaluuya is not only chewing the scenery, he is ripping it apart in his mouth, spitting it out, and stomping on it for good measure. Tyree Henry is intimidating in a more restrained manner. Much like his character he has to present a pleasant and likable exterior while also maintaining a truly diabolical interior. Also present is Colin Farell, who is fine. He seems to be in one of McQueen's earlier more prestige fair and probably could have had a little more fun playing the heir of a corrupt political dynasty.

Overall, widows is a thoroughly engrossing 120 minutes at the movies. It is a good old fashioned shoot em up mixed with themes of strength, independence, and loyalty. In a career of highs, this is one of Steve McQueen’s best. It is definitely his most entertaining and approachable feature and hopefully, more people will choose to see it on the big screen.