Widows (2018)

Directed by Steve McQueen

Screenplay written by Steve McQueen and Gillian Flynn

Based on "Widows" by Lynda La Plante

Starring Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki 

Normally, a crime drama movie like this isn't really up my alley. Not to say there are not plenty of crime based drama movies that are very good and suspenseful, it's just not a genre of movies I enjoy that much. I gave Widows a chance because 1. It was free to watch on a flight I was on, and 2. It is starring Viola Davis. Any movie that features Viola Davis yelling and slapping people, and is readily available for my free entertainment, is a movie for me.

Set in modern day Chicago, the film follows three women; Veronica (Viola Davis), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Amanda (Michelle Rodriguez)-- whose lives are connected by the sudden deaths of their husbands, whom were all working together on a heist. When Veronica learns that her husband Harry (Liam Neeson) owed 2 million dollars to a malicious crime boss and politician, she enlists the help of the other widows whose husbands were involved with this shady activity. The women must attempt to pull off a 5 million dollar heist to pay off the dangerous politician and keep their own lives afloat.

Widows has a few sub-plots that were kind of confusing. Colin Farrell has a role in the movie as another politician who is running against Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), Carrie Coon plays another widow who never really becomes involved in the heist but still makes a few cameos in the movie. There was just too many stories all trying to connect and it got a bit confusing and cluttered at times. However, McQueen sets out to make an entertaining, crime thriller and that is what he does successfully. With previous titles like the Indie drama, Shame and the Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave, McQueen brings us something very different from his past work with Widows. 

The cast is what ultimately brings life to this movie. While Davis brings so much strength to anything she even makes a small cameo in, its the supporting cast that really impressed me. Elizabeth Debicki's character goes through some real development while she starts out as a damaged, vulnerable widow and turns into this bad-ass independent women. Michelle Rodriguez brings her normal level of feistiness. Daniel Kaluuya plays the henchmen for the crime boss, and his character is devilishly psychotic.

Overall this movie was satisfying, with the tension building up the whole movie to a very suspenseful ending. Sure there are a few plot holes, but in the end who does't love the idea of a group of bad-ass widows taking on one of the scariest crime lords of Chicago. Definitely a better female driven heist movie than Ocean's Eight. 

6/10