Widows Review

Widows is a remake of a British TV series, made by director Steve McQueen, giving the celebrated director a chance to add his social conscious into a mainstream film.

Veronica Rawlings (Viola Davis) is the widow of Harry (Liam Neeson), a thief who was killed along with his whole crew when a job goes wrong. Harry stole $2 million from Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), a crime boss running for office. Manning threatens Veronica to pay the debt in a month. Veronica finds Harry’s notes regarding his next job and recruits the other widows to act as her crew.

There is a surprisingly good track record of film adaptations of British dramatic shows. Traffic was an Oscar winner back in 2001 and films like State of Play and Edge of Darkness were enjoyable adaptations. Widows can easily stand with them.

Widows had a lot of strength with its cast and crew. McQueen has a talent for casting actors and getting great performances. Viola Davis is an acting legend and once again nails her role. She had to become a woman who had to take charge after being threatened. She is no-nonsense ball buster and has to act ruthlessly to ensure the heist goes well. Elizabeth Debicki was a highlight as Alice. Alice was tall and beautiful but constantly victimised – she was abused by her husband and mother, been taken advantage of, forced into prostitution and dismissed as stupid. She was the most naive member of the crew regarding the criminal world. She has the greatest character arch.

Daniel Kaluuya was also fantastic in his role as Jatemme, Manning’s main enforcer. He was horrific and menacing. Despite his short stature he was intimidating because he was so sadistic and unpredictable, calm and cruel. The production was even able to get some great actors like Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, The Punisher) and Oscar-nominee Jackie Weaver, earning the worst mother of the year award. This is proof that McQueen is a director many actors want to work with regardless of how big or small their role would be.

McQueen started his career as an artist and before Widows his film career focused on dramas. He had a distinctive visual style, favouring long takes and complex tracking shots. It’s a style that is fitting for action and his technicians did create some excellent sequences. The opening police chase sequence was shot from the perspectives of the thieves in the van – it felt like being in the van with them. McQueen’s long takes allowed for a big build-up and tension in scenes, especially with Jatemme.

McQueen is also known as a director for tackling heavy subjects – his first film was about Bobby Sands, Shame was about sex addiction and he explored American slavery with 12 Years a Slave. He teamed up with Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn to write the screenplay and together they injected a lot of social commentaries. Three of the four women in the crew are women of colour, all are in debt and screwed over by their husbands. But they are still grieving for them – they are men they loved and the father of their children. They’re underestimated because of their gender, which Veronica states they need to use this fact to their advantage. Alice is seen as nothing but a whore by everyone and she wants to be more. Belle, played by Cynthia Erivo is a woman that has to take multiple jobs just to make ends meet by working as many jobs as possible. They are all driven into the heist out of desperation.

McQueen added the theme of income inequality and does this in a great visual way. McQueen does this by showing someone going from a campaign event in a poor area and goes to his fancy house within five minutes. Colin Farrell’s character, Jack Mulligan, was running for office and is basically inheriting his father – after a political scandal. Both Mulligan profess that they are a voice for the poor and minorities but are corrupt and racist. There are mentions of wider political issues like how American politicians feather their own nest and the mayor gerrymandered the boundaries as a punishment. Jamal Manning was no noble hero, he was equally corrupt and only ran for office for his own self-interest. Using Chicago as a location was deliberate choice because it has a notorious history of political corruption.

Whilst there is a bigger story involving the politics of the city the aim of the crew is simply do the heist and get the money. The bulk of the film is the crew making preparations for the heist – whether it’s buying items, doing research and staking out locations. It is a slow burner compared to other heist films that are much more flashy and stylised.

Because Widows was based on a TV series it was filled with subplots and at times the film is tackling too much. Veronica and the crew’s storyline is focused, filled with drama, tensions and thrills. It’s when the film moves into the wider story involving the election and the politicians’ criminal activities that is when the film gets more muddled. Some subplots linger and get forgotten. Obviously some parts of the film were left on the cutting room floor. Ironically Widows should have been more streamlined or could have been expanded into a miniseries.

Widows is a more serious take on the heist genre and McQueen shows that he can mix genre thrills with deeper themes.