Widows ** (2018, Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Liam Neeson, Cynthia Erivo) – Movie Review

Something is lost on the way to 2018 Chicago for the cinema version of Lynda La Plante’s masterly 1983 British TV mini-series Widows.

Director / co-writer Steve McQueen wants a posh movie, and this is the problem, with his heist thriller falling between art film and commercial mainstream thriller. At a squeeze, it does both jobs, but only just. Those looking for thrills will be frustrated at the slow pace, talkie scenes and atmospheric shots of suburban Chicago. Those looking for an art film will be impressed by all that but probably none too interested in the core heist story, violence, language and sexual content. It is co-written by Gillian Flynn, writer of the novel and screenplay of Gone Girl (2014), a very slick, smooth piece of work that shows none of the sense of strain you get in Widows.

However, on the plus side, and very much so, is Viola Davis’s scalding star turn as Veronica Rawlings, one of the women widowed when their husbands are involved in a heist gone fatally wrong. When McQueen focuses in on Davis, and her relationships with the other women she gathers together to pull off her own heist, based on her late husband’s notebook plans, he is on to a winning streak.

Elizabeth Debicki is also compelling as the Polish-American Alice, who has started to fall into prostitution to make ends meet. Her sole, rather thoughtful and considerate client is David, played by none other Lukas Haas from Witness. Michelle Rodriguez is much less effective as the third widow Linda, but then her part is poorly written, totally under-written. But Cynthia Erivo scores as the sassy getaway driver Belle.

On the minus side, the whole Chicago political plot and election stuff is a tedious waste of time. It doesn’t work at all, and seems tacked on from the script of an entirely different movie. Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell (a most unlikely father and son) do not have a good time at all as the wicked Irish politicians seeking to control town, and Brian Tyree Henry and Daniel Kaluuya do not have a good time at all either as the local hoods trying to get the widows’ money and bring the Irish politicians down. This part of the plot is over-heated and nastily violent, which is alienating. Okay, it is a tough movie, but Kaluuya’s character is just irredeemably nasty, and that goes for several other characters, so it is hard to sympathise. More light and shade would make a more subtle movie.

Garret Dillahunt stands out in the support cast as Veronica’s loyal chauffeur Bash. Carrie Coon doesn’t have much to work with as Amanda and Ann Mitchell from the original Widows plays Amanda’s Mother in a merely token role, while Jacki Weaver is wasted as Alice’s Mother, Agnieska.

I think the problem is that McQueen and Flynn are just trying to pull too much in, too many characters and situations, that they can’t handle in a two-hour running time. They are after an epic, like, say, Heat or Casino. For that you need three hours. Sure, though Widows is occasionally slow and baggy, it never quite stalls enough to get boring, so you keep watching, mainly to get to the climactic heist, though that, when it finally comes, is a bit of a let-down. The story’s twist is not at all well concealed, with the casting a problem here, and the reveal is a bit mishandled, and the climax of this part of the story frankly unbelieveable.

Yep, I didn’t believe in Widows, except maybe when we were staring at Viola Davis’s anguished face.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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