Widows

This review may contain spoilers!

I'm a sucker for heist films but to see a heist film where the leads barely interact and there's no build-up to the heist itself was always going to fall flat. I would give Widows a 4/10.

This film does not shy away from depicting a brutal, violent criminal underworld on the fringes and intermeshed with wider society. Throughout the film, the protagonists are threatened or placed into situations that are extremely perilous and invasive; you watch a world that is governed by political campaigning and mundane occupations delve into backroom dealing and gang violence. Widows is a messy film in a lot of respects but it juggles the setting and tone extremely well.

Brian Tyree Henry, who played Jamal Manning, really eclipses most other antagonists within the film; Henry's unabashed conviction towards achieving alderman is a driving force and it's interesting to see the ways he chooses to portray that, such as the scene in which he confronts Davis. Garret Dillahunt, who played Bash, is a seemingly simple figure who presents a firm pillar of advice and support for Davis in the first two acts; Dillahunt brings forth a loyal role who will take any task or punishment in aid of those he cares about. Jon Michael Hill, who played Reverend Wheeler, is intensely charismatic that you feel his character to be almost intoxicating; Hill's role holds power and has a great deal of self-awareness about this as he cleverly plays both sides of the political fence.

However, the best performance came from Liam Neeson, who played Harry Rawlings. You don't see a lot of Neeson in this film but the little you get is nothing short of a treat. There is something inherently pure and good in his affections for Davis' Veronica that we begin to see the fantasy she has created is a shadow and not the truth of Neeson's role. As the film begins to progress and we see this character begins to bargain and trade promises for time it becomes clear how corrupt a figure this role is. The final confrontation between Neeson and Davis is an epic display of betrayal and greed that shreds apart the image of Neeson we had previously held in our heads. This is a small role that manages to shine clearly throughout the film.

This film pushes the idea that it's a heist film despite having most of the features of a slow-burn indie crime feature. What is most distinctly frustrating is how the title characters feel barely banded together throughout, Veronica's story takes priority at every turn and you barely see her interact with the rest of the team. In a way, it's hard to believe the heist even happens because the prep scenes are barely there and everything just goes too conveniently well. The film spends too much time walking off the beaten path and examining how Belle will cram into this mess as early as the beginning of the third act, or over-analysing a rather bloated self-empowerment sub-plot for Alice. The film is constantly finding distractions or adding of big elements to the plot that should matter but likely no one will care about; the political skirmish for Alderman a prime example of this. The whole journey is a predictable yawn-fest, with major plot twists such as characters returning from the dead causing few viewers to bat so much as an eyelid. The cinematography tries a little hard to get inventive and experimental with entire scenes, this just has the pay off of feeling indecisive and lacking a coherent visual style. The editing manages to keep the film trudging a lethargic pace. The score for this film is done by none other than Hans Zimmer which is surprising considering the music is barely present throughout; this film loses a lot because there is no substance or emotion in the backing tracks.

Viola Davis, who played Veronica, has little emotion to give to this film; Davis feels cold and distant almost the entire film and as an audience member she's a difficult protagonist to engage with. Michelle Rodriguez, who played Linda, doesn't really give a great deal of range either and seems perpetually unhappy; Rodriguez's role doesn't seem to much care for her shopowner background and it's hard to even be convinced that she's a struggling mother. Elizabeth Debicki, who played Alice, has done this role before and better; Debicki's entire arc of recognising that she's clung to men and then seeking her own self-power isn't very original in its execution. Carrie Coon, who played Amanda, is the grumpy widow who doesn't want to engage with the rest of the cast; Coon's embraces her role's abrasive persona a bit too strongly. Robert Duvall, who played Tom Mulligan, really goes overboard in his senile elderly racist performance; Duvall seems like an absurdity tacked onto the film. Colin Farrell and Molly Kunz, who played Jack Mulligan and Siobhan respectively, are the political figures you are supposed to perceive as good initially but the film just makes you feel apathetic about them; I still don't really know if I'm supposed to consider Farrell as an antagonist because the film dealt with his role in such a murky way. Daniel Kaluuya, who played Jatemme Manning, seriously found his peak with Get Out and now we're experiencing the low; Kaluuya's wild and irate gangster feels a little too over the top for the tone of the film. Jacki Weaver, who played Agnieszka, has been typecast well and truly as the crazy mother role now; Weaver just lays it on too thick every time she picks up one of these characters and it just means there's little connection between her and Debicki. Cynthia Erivo, who played Belle, is introduced into this film far too late to be lumped into the main heist group yet she is anyway; Erivo bounces her role's personality from being meek to being confrontational at an annoyingly frequent rate. Lukas Haas, who played David, is an odd character this film pitches alongside Debicki; the pair have a lot of chemistry but you're not really sold when Haas tries to portray the nastier side to his character.