*Originally written November 11th, 2018*
Widows was by far one of my most anticipated films of 2018, based on that cast, premise and the always excellent Steve McQueen directing. I'm a complete sucker for heist films, especially ones made by a talented director. While Widows didn't disappoint, it is a remarkably by the numbers plot elevated by McQueen's tense direction and the talent of its cast.
The premise is simple and effective, after their husbands are all killed in a heist gone wrong, they have to pay back the people their husbands stole from and plan a heist of their own. It's a film planted firmly in its genre and while it lacks surprises or sort of subversion of expectations, it does everything it aims to do incredibly well.
The cast are all great. Viola Davis has been insanely reliable for years now and she's no different here, I could have done with more emotion from her as her character was bordering on her role from Suicide Squad at times (Just looking pissed off and not much else), but she manages to pull off some genuine emotion in moments littered throughout. Michelle Rodriguez was.. well, Michelle Rodriguez, but it's nice to see her do something a bit more high-brow for once and she holds her own against the rest of the cast. Same with Elizabeth Dubecki, who is given far more screen-time than I expected.
The only weak spot of the cast Robert Duvall, who gives a strange performance that came off as unintentionally hilarious rather than effective. It felt like he was manically trying to remember his lines while trying to battle dementia and not really sure what to do with the words he was saying.
Part of me is curious to see the original ITV series this was based on, but like most UK drama, I imagine it will be pretty cringe and unbearable to watch. I can only imagine they borrowed a few of the twists from the series (One massive one that I called very early on) that feel a little out of place for a film with this dark and serious tone. I'm not saying the twist didn't work, it just felt a little off.
I'm amazed at how much McQueen managed to pack into a just over 2 hour film too, there is so much going on and characters being juggled that it could have turned out to be an under-cooked mess, but it all payed off wonderfully. The wives slowly teaming up and planning the heist follows a lot of genre conventions, but the heist itself is some of the most tense film-making of the year and McQueen's direction really brings some amazing imagery helped by Sean Bobbit's gorgeous cinematography.
I was a little disappointed by Hans Zimmer's pretty low-key score that borrowed various elements from stuff he's done recently and it got to the point where I stopped even noticing the score, which is not a good sign. It's weird he'd score a prestige drama like this and utterly phone it in.
After's McQueen's previous film which was a gruelling masterpiece, it was nice to see him do a film with a bit of a lighter tone. Don't get me wrong, this is a drama that takes itself very seriously, but there are moments of surprising comedy mixed among the brutality. I was actually surprised at how brutal some of this was, Daniel Kaluuya is an absolute psycho here and I love seeing him more and more in big projects.
Widows is what it is. It's not an Oscar bait drama from an acclaimed director, but instead a genre film that follows a pretty worn formula, but does it so incredibly well thanks to McQueen's assured direction, tension and an excellent cast.
9/10 Dans
Widows is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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