Widows
Director: Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen’s (not the actor Steve McQueen) ‘Widows’ is not bad. In fact, it is a rather good.
'Widows' takes an extremely strong cast of women ‒ Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debiki, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo, Carrie Coon ‒ and gives them a clever script. The ‘Widows’ women are responding to having lost their husbands (and incomes) due to their spouses being blown to oblivion after an unsuccessful heist. The fact that the unsuccessful job involved a small time criminal under-lord; an equally corrupt, larger time political family and a considerable number of dollars makes their safety and situations very messy. The women are brutally made aware that their husbands’ debt is now considered theirs.
What makes this movie stand-out is that it is not formulaic. Sure, you’ll anticipate a couple of the twists and turns but certainly not all, and there are some moments – for example, a psychopath insisting that his African American victims perform some gangster rap as he executes them – that are stand-out (in a brutal and Tarantino-eque manner, so be warned).
Maybe not the greatest film ever made but definitely one of the better for 2018.
Recommended.