Widows Review (2018): A Thrilling, Capable Story About Thrilling, Capable Women
If you’re like me, you’ve been patiently waiting for Steve McQueen’s next feature film as a director since 12 Years A Slave came out in 2013. And our wait comes to an end in the form of Widows, set in contemporary Chicago, after a group of four men are killed and leave their wives in debt to a Chicago crime lord. These women have (apparently) no real knowledge of their late husbands’ goings on (except that they were criminals) and also (apparently) have no real tangible experience/skills in the organized crime arena. But they have a debt to pay and no real liquid assets. So they need to steal.
It’s an exciting screenplay with just a few points of weakness for me. No cringey twists or lame double-crossings, as can be all too present in heist movies. The story is easily digestible, and feels like a scenario that could actually go down. But I wasn’t quite as mesmerized by the storytelling as I was in McQueen’s previous feature — granted, one might be able to argue that slavery is better equipped to incite one’s sensibilities than organized crime, but still, I felt it was worth commenting on.
There is a really cool political subplot in this movie, that takes the form of a district Alderman (City Councilman) election race between Jack Mulligan (Collin Farrell) and Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry, of Atlanta fame). I don’t presume to know the scope of McQueen’s message with this film, but he does bring an element of cynicism to the table when it comes to politics. Neither candidate puts forth a semblance of a true desire for public service, for public service’s sake. I’ll spare the spoilers, but this facet of the story really added a lot for me in terms of buy-in. I guess it forced me into the shoes of a Chicago voter in the 18th Ward.
Now, while Viola Davis was up to her usual scene-stealing antics, this was truly an ensemble movie. The other three women all play their roles with gravitas that their parts require. My only qualm is that Carrie Coon, playing one of the other three widows, felt wasted to me with such little screen time (maybe 10 minutes?). She is a force and I haven’t seen her do anything even mediocre yet, as all her work has been superb. So I wouldn’t have minded either more development from her character or another role entirely.
My favorite part of this movie was the performance from Daniel Kaluuya (of Get Out fame). He plays Jamal Manning’s brother and campaign manager of sorts? He get the job done, by any means necessary. He is ruthless and terrifying and so compelling to watch. I found myself most intrigued by the story when his character was on screen.
I feel like the ending of the screenplay could have been a little sharper. I loved how the heist seemed feasible by a group of untrained, inexperienced women. And the story didn’t require them to acquire absurd superpowers to pull it off, which is cool. The only “twist” can be seen a mile away (and doesn’t really try to hide), which is fine, but I wanted a little more context for the characters’ motivations. Without getting into spoilers, I wanted to know how our characters justified their choices? But there’s still lots of fun action at the end, which feels un-self-indulgent. Plus a little more Daniel Kaluuya.
McQueen gives his audience a few crowd-pleasing summation scenes, that I neither required nor particularly enjoyed, but I don’t get to pick the film’s genre (I feel like the ending of a movie often retrospectively helps inform the genre of a movie [for example, A Star is Born]), so I’ll allow it. My more indulgent-self thanked him.
7/10 overall. Widows is a much more accessible film than 12 Years a Slave was (as in, I unhesitatingly recommended it to my dad) but still aptly carries the weight of McQueen’s ambition and talent behind the camera. As I said, I could have used a tighter screenplay at its conclusion, but the acting and thrilling story will make rewatches something to anticipate.
Check out what else is on my 2018 Awards Season Watchlist.
