I went into Widows with the highest expectations, and somehow, they were met. With an all-star cast, a screenplay written by Gillian Flynn, and 12 Years A Slave’s director, Steve McQueen, at its helm, this film was a recipe for success. McQueen demonstrates his mastery of fine detail, able to communicate an impressive amount of information through the simplest of interactions or sometimes even a single shot. As a result, Widows is filled to the brim with a vast array of wonderfully complex characters and plot arcs working in perfect tandem.
A fresh take on the heist genre, Widows exposes the less glamorous side to all the scheming. The characters journey and struggles throughout the film further reflect on the progression of their grief. Putting its female characters at the forefront, Widows is, what many have coined, the more serious counterpart to Gary Ross’s Ocean’s 8.
Widows delves into a number of themes and topics of conversation from race to gender inequity, to grief and financial divides and many more. None of these topics seemed forced or out of place, which is a miracle in itself. Still, I wish there had been time to explore each one in more depth – the same goes for the characters.
I was seriously impressed by the sheer number of complex characters in Widows. The fact they were able to give each actor enough time to shine as well as they did is proof of some serious quality writing and directing on Flynn and McQueen’s part. That being said, I would have loved to see each of the characters explored in more depth. Widows was an excellent film, but I have to say, it would have made an even better miniseries – which is no surprise, considering the film is based on 1983 miniseries of the same name. This extended format would have allowed more time to comprehensively explore all the elements that the film merely touches on, but I suppose making an Oscar-contending film is a more glamorous prospect than a miniseries.
Widows, after all, was like the perfect playground for its all-star cast. Viola Davis was incredible as always as the wilful Veronica Rawlins, championing the film from start to finish with a perfect balance of grief, anguish and determination. Davis never ceases to disappoint. It’s making my job quite difficult here, but what can I say? She was excellent, and no one’s surprised – let’s move on.
Elizabeth Debicki was a standout performer as Alice, making the most of her screen time by weaving in the most intricate little details. Debicki’s work was perfectly precise, from her expression of betrayal when Veronica hit her, to her involuntary flinches whenever men touched her without permission. Certainly the most memorable performer, Debicki was the one actress I immediately had to search up online after finishing the film – and the one actress I will be keeping my eye out for in the future.
Colin Farrell excels in one of his best roles yet as politician, Jack Mulligan. Despite the pedigree of his company, Farrell still manages to stand out. Farrell features in an impressive range of profound and innovative scenes in which he truly dominates the screen. At times you could definitely hear the Irish in his voice but, to be fair, I have watched my fair share of Colin Farrell films lately, so I may have been more honed onto his natural accent than the average viewer.
I loved seeing Daniel Kaluuya take on the role of antagonist for once; it certainly looked like he had a lot of fun doing so. We all know Kaluuya can play detached and creepy from some of the more sinister moments in Black Mirror and Get Out. In Widows, he takes it a step closer to full-fledged villain role and – no surprise here – he pulls it off incredibly well. I would have liked to see more of his character however, as it didn’t receive the same level of nuance as most of the others.
Widows had me hooked until the last second, but I’ll admit the ending could have used some work. It just seemed to taper off, ultimately ending on a fairly ambiguous message of hope and reconciliation that perhaps could have been executed more clearly. There were a number in my viewing party that left confused, although I must admit, I personally enjoyed the ambiguous nature of it.
All faults aside, Widows is an acting masterclass, with wonderfully precise directing and a captivating script to top it all off. It was simply a pleasure to watch the film play out – to see how all its different threads would come to intertwine. I’d recommend Widows to heist-film fans and film connoisseurs alike – it’s certainly one I’ll be going back to watch again myself.
TheScreenReview 