November 24th in Chicago. First part of a double header. Widows piqued my interest when I saw it was a heist film. I did a little research and found that Steve McQueen not only directed the film but wrote the screenplay along with Gillian Flynn. So yes, I was in.
The picture is based on a 1983 BBC series of the same name. Set in modern day Chicago, we have Harry Rawlings, Liam Nesson, and his wife Veronica, Viola Davis. They live the good life with a sweet apartment on Lakeshore with a fantastic view, a driver, the whole nine yards.
Harry has a Neil McCauley occupation. He and his crew take down scores. Harry's crew consists of Florek (Jon Bernthal, who seems to be cast in this type of role a lot but I guess it's better than taking the road Gerard Butler of doing screwball rom-coms), Carlos (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and Jimmy (Coburn Goss). Things go bad, really bad, during their last score and the whole crew gets killed after the police arrive at their hideout. After the husbands die, the widows; Veronica, Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), Alice (Ayesha, leader of the Sovereign Race who just happened to be hanging out on Earth) and Amanda (Carrie Coon) all realize that their husbands didn't plan for the future too well. Veronica is broke, Linda gets her store repossessed, Alice is left with nothing and Amanda is pregnant and left with nothing. Their husbands worked for years taking down high end scores but have nothing to show for it. At least McCauley's crew set themselves up, except for Chris Shiherlis. He would have fit in fine with Harry's crew.
So not only is Veronica broke, but local crime lord Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) informs Veronica that the money Harry died stealing and subsequently went up in flames was his and he wants his $2,000,000 back. Jamal needed the money to run for alderman against Jack Mulligan, Collin Farrell. The Mulligan's are led by the patriarch Tom, Robert Duvall, and have had a stranglehold on this south side alderman seat for decades. They don't want to give it up.
Manning gives Veronica a deadline she can't possibly keep and tells her if she doesn't get the money then his brother/top enforcer, Jatemme (Daniel Kaluuya) is going to kill her. Given.
After "finding" her husband's crime journal, Veronica decides to pull of Harry's next heist he had planned. A $5,000,000 score. She reaches out to Linda and Alice and they're in. She decides to leave Amanda out of it. But eventually they need a driver after the Manning's kill Veronica's. In comes Linda's babysitter, Belle (Cynthia Ervio) to fill in the spot.
The heist does not quite go as planned but there's a lot tension as things wind down with a very interesting twist ending, there's foreshadowing but not too much. This is a really good film. It got a 91% Rotten Tomatoes rating that is well deserving. There are a few issues though. Does Veronica really not know how Harry made his money? Or why they don't have a retirement account? I understand the death of their son, a nice social commentary, put a strain on their marriage but she's a smart woman and she had to know something. There's also the fact that as tough and smart as this group of women may be, this is still their first foray into crime and their first job is a high stakes $5,000,000 score.
Excellent acting. Lots of tension. Very gritty. Perhaps not McQueen's best work, but a very good film. Now I happen to hold Heat as the gold standard of heist films (I need to see more) and Widows got a better rating than Heat and I do not agree. The film made a list of great recent films that have may not have been seen and I agree. This is a film worth watching but it's not as good as Heat. Watch both films and judge for yourself.
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