Well if you can’t get Liam Neeson to run a heist, Viola Davis is a pretty amazing 2nd option. Widows should be studied for how to execute a great thriller: it’s tense, got some twists, some things go wrong, and the characters matter. Throw in a little noirish Chicago, and the recipe is tantalizing. Widows, as a thriller, has one of the great conceits.
The movie opens awesomely with an intercutting of two worlds. We have a group of conmen: leader Harry Rawlings (Liam Neeson) and his accomplices: Florek (Jon Bernthal), Carlos (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and Jimmy (Coburn Gross), leading what we eventually see is a botched heist. This is woven into scenes with each of these men with their families/significant others. Harry and Veronica (Viola Davis) live in a lovely high rise overlooking downtown Chicago. Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) and Amanda (Carrie Coon) both have kids; Linda owns a shop Carlos has been using as collateral for his gambling and Amanda has a fussy newborn. Finally, Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) is in an abusive relationship with Florek and her own mother (Jackie Weaver). Harry, turns out, was robbing Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), who is currently running for alderman in his district against incumbent Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell), and Jamal lost $2,000,000 in the fallout of the heist, and has come to Veronica to collect. Out of options, Veronica finds Harry’s plans for his next job and calls Alice, Linda, and Amanda to see if they want to execute this plan and get $1,000,000 apiece out of the deal and pay back their debtors.
The shallow read on Widows is a heist movie for the #MeToo era. While that theme heavily dominates the film, Steve McQueen’s story has larger fish to fry. I would argue the established social order is on trial in Widows. Jamal is running for office because he sees a way out of the current social setup: getting black people in power in a district where they have usually been overlooked and getting himself out of a dangerous world. His brother Jatemme (Daniel Kaluuya) sits atop the power chain right now with his brother, and is comfortable doing what he can to stay in power and keep the powerless down. Jack Mulligan inherited the entirety of his father’s (Robert Duvall) legacy; he wants to keep the good parts and eliminate the bad ones, even though his dad sees progress as weakness. And obviously, these 4 women are always overlooked by not only their husbands but also the powerful people they’re robbing. When the group starts working together, you start to see that confidence rise to the top, with the women realizing they, like their con artist husbands, can overthrow a system in place because they are not considered a threat, and they can slip in the side door and take what’s theirs.
Even if those themes weren’t present, this movie is simply a timeless kick ass thriller that’s a blast to watch. The opening sequence is beautifully constructed, showing us the dual lifestyles the men were leading before the eventual fall. This dual focus continues through the film, as we watch the campaign for alderman and the women attempting the heist, both equally compelling. McQueen’s use of long takes shows up in the car ride from a Mulligan campaign rally in a poorer, blacker part of town, and in less than 5 minutes of chatting arrives at his beautiful house in a neighborhood that seems miles away, not minutes, showing us why Jamal is running for office. The women, meanwhile, are summoning their courage to get this done, especially Elizabeth Debicki’s Alice, who rises out of her cocoon to become a badass butterfly, not taking no sh*t from nobody. The big twist and cross is executed marvelously, setting up logical double crosses along the way. When we get to the plan, there’s something that goes wrong, and the women have to test their mettle when complications arise, as do the Mulligans and Mannings. Every staple of the heist is here and executed beautifully by McQueen and Gillian Flynn, the writer, and acted magnetically by everyone, especially Elizabeth Debicki and Viola Davis.
Widows delivers on the hype it was holding, with Oscar talent everywhere behind and in front of the screen. It’s hard to believe someone wouldn’t have a great time watching this movie. Except maybe Chicago aldermen; the jig might be up for some of the schemes those guys run…