Widows Review

As Steve McQueen famously said “Kachow”.

Steve McQueen is a director who has never taken the easy road. The directors first release was the gripping Hunger which told the story of Irish Republican Bobby Sands’ hunger strike during the troubles. His follow up Shame shined a spotlight onto sex addiction, in a film which left millions of people needing a long cold shower. McQueen hit mainstream Hollywood with 12 Years a Slave in 2014, an instant classic which nabbed 3 Oscars including Best Picture. The world eagerly anticipated to see what McQueen would gift us with next. As I said earlier McQueen has never taken the easy road. Widows his latest release is based off an ITV 1983 miniseries. Now the influence may leave you scratching your head but don’t worry McQueen knows exactly what he is doing. Widows may be his best film to date.

Widows tells the story of four women who come together to attempt a heist to repay a debt following the deaths of their criminal husbands.  Widows tackles and perfects an array of subjects is this masterfully crafted film. The heist aspects of the film play a smaller role than I expected, the planning of and the heist itself is essentially a much more realistic version of the Oceans series. Every aspect of the planning and attempt never jumps the shark, a common fault of heist films is that they always reach the point where you have to suspend your belief and just go with it. The opening scene which shows the husbands final heist is inventive, adding a whole new dimension to heists in film. Throughout its marketing campaign has been billed as a heist movie, but the film is not as simple as that.

The actresses who play the Widows all add an immense amount to the film. Viola Davies has all but guaranteed a 4^th Oscar nomination for her performance as Veronica. Veronica is the leader of the Widows and its her journey with grief which anchors the film. The flashbacks of her times with husband Harry (Liam Neeson) are heart-breaking given the context that the audience has. Davies has perfected the cry face; the snot acting is one of her most powerful weapons in her arsenal. Michelle Rodriguez gives the best performance of her career as Linda. The actress has been playing mainly military badasses in popcorn films for the majority of her career, to see her nail a dramatic role as a mother fighting for her children’s future was a major shock to me. Themes of abuse are seen throughout the film in Alice (Elizabeth Debicki). Debicki’s portrayal of the fragility a person goes through in their battle with physical and emotional abuse is heart-breaking to watch.  The film investigates the escort service through her character and the psychology of the women who enter those services. Alice despite all of this is hilarious, Debicki uses the comedic chops she had in Guardians 2 to bring some light heartedness to this dark film. If the young actress continues to deliver performances like this, then she will be a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. Cynthia Erivo as Belle gets the least amount of screen time for us to become fully invested in the character but nevertheless Erivo gives a solid performance. The chemistry between the women is wonderful, thrown together through circumstance it’s wonderful to watch bonds and friendships form between the women.

The film is as much a political film as it is a heist film. Widows is set during an election battle between Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell), a wealthy man who has had everything handed to him, and Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), a man who has clawed his way to the top and knows this is his only opportunity to succeed in politics. The contrast between the two candidates is one of the most entertaining aspects of the film. Farrell and Henry both give terrific performances as the two men who both have everything to lose. Both candidates’ family hold a large part to play in their success. The legendary Robert Duvall plays Jack’s dad Tom Mulligan, at 87 years old Duvall still commands the screen in his verbal spars with Farrell. Jamal’s brother Jatemme (Daniel Kaluuya) carries out the dirty side of politics for him.  Kaluuya follows up his Oscar nominated performance in Get Out with another world class display of acting. Jatemme is terrifying in any scene he features in. Kaluuya acts with his eyes to scare the daylights out of you, I don’t think he blinked once in the film. Thanks to Jatemme you’ll never listen to freestyle hip-hop or look at bowling alleys the same way ever again. The politic of the film main point is that you can’t succeed without playing dirty, through finance or violence. A true reflection on today's world, with the current elections happening in America the film couldn’t come out at a more relevant time.

The direction in Widows is incredible. McQueen has once again crafted a film which is tweaked to perfection. Every single scene feels vital to the film. There’s a scene in the film which starts with two characters getting into a car, having a conversation during the journey and goes on to show what they do at their destination. Now I’m not going to spoil the scene in question so I’m sorry for the vagueness but it’s one of the most unique tracking shots I’ve ever witnessed. The car part of the scene had me gripped as you can only hear the characters and never see them, yet you will be gripped to what’s happening. For such a simple scene the direction from McQueen is outstanding, any other director would split it into 3 separate scenes but that’s not McQueen’s way. The script is written by both McQueen and Gillian Flynn. Getting the Gone Girl writer on board was a masterstroke. The script is like Gone Girls but without the hammier parts of it. McQueen and Flynn have crafted a script which showcases both of their strengths and eliminates both of their weaknesses.

Widows is one of the best films of 2018.  The cast, script and direction all click beautifully. The subplots weave together flawlessly without ever getting lost in its self, a rarity in film nowadays with so many films attempting to cover too much ground but ultimately shoot themselves in the foot. With awards season fast approaching I would make a case for Viola Davies, Elizabeth Debicki and Daniel Kaluuya to be nominated for Oscars. A Star is Born may not be the clear-cut Best Picture winner that I expected. McQueen has succeeded expectations yet again in his short but turbulent career. Whatever the director tackles next, the world will be eagerly awaiting again because we are in the midst a power run from perhaps films greatest director.

Liam’s Summary of Widows.

Best Moment: The best Freestyle rap scene since 8 Mile.

Worst Moment: The opening shot caught me a little off guard to say the least.

Best Character: Jatemme shows that Daniel Kayluuya could make a twisted Joker.

Worst Character: I don’t have a worst character so I’m going to use this to shout out Jerry from Parks and Recs who’s 2 for 2 in my 5-star films.

Overall Rating: 5/5