★★★½ Watched 08 Aug 2019
Widows has the making to be a fabulous movie. Start with the line up. You have some heavy hitters with Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, , Liam Neeson, Robert Duvall, and Colin Farrell. I mean, with this line up how can you go wrong?
Director Steve McQueen, who earned Best Picture for 12 Years A Slave in 2014 and was nominated as best director, took on this film as director, producer, and writer. All descriptions of this movie lead you to believe that you are going to be watching a heist film and essentially, you are. The film begins with a series of flashback between the relationship between Harry Rawlings (Neeson) and Veronica Rawlings (Davis) and Harry and his gang’s demise during a gone wrong heist.
When Harry’s wrong-doings go against a crime boss, that boss wants his money back and threatens Veronica. Veronica finds out who her husband really was and to save herself and the widows of Harry’s partners, she has to finish his last heist.
The idea and premise, awesome. I’m expecting some action, adventure, suspense… That is not Steve McQueen. The heist is second to a story about the characters, backstories, and emotion of everyone involved. We spend the entire movie leading up to the heist and forming a bond with the characters. You learn who to root for along the way. Remember that adventure and suspense I am looking for? Yeah, it’s basically the last 10 minutes of the movie. A tad disappointing when you are expecting a heist film.
I was looking for another Fast and Furious or Ocean’s 11 and let down that I didn’t get it. This doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good film. Yes, it was a very good story line and loved the characters and how to story is told. McQueen did a very good job with the film, even if it wasn’t the film I was wanting.
