Written by Juliana Ukiomogbe
At the surface, Widows is a film about four women who come together in order to pull off a heist after their husbands die. As the film progresses, more layers get peeled back and the plot thickens. The film is doing a lot; it’s a thriller, a heist, a drama, and also deals with race, social class, and domestic abuse. Oscar-winner Steve McQueen brings this complex story to life along with Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) who co-wrote the screenplay with him. Although I liked aspects of the story, I found that the film didn’t know when or how to get out of its own way.
First, let’s talk about the actors. There are several heavy hitters present here: Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Elizabeth Debicki, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Cynthia Erivo, Daniel Kaluuya, and Michelle Rodriguez to name a few. Everyone brings their A-game. All of these performances are by far the best parts of the film. The ones who stood out the most were definitely Debicki and Kaluuya, as I feel like they have the most to do in the movie and really get to show off their acting skills with their characters. With that being said, I wish the movie gave Kaluuya a little more screen time. He’s a supporting character, but he does such a great job of playing someone so menacing and evil, and I wanted to see more of that. I also think that the characters could’ve been fleshed out a little more. While they are very complex, we only get to see that complexity at a surface level.
Now on to the plot. As stated before, there’s a lot going on. Almost too much. The trailer presents this movie as a heist, which is true for a very small portion of it. A lot of the storyline has to do with politics, as both Brian Tyree Henry and Colin Farrell’s characters are politicians. So, the film deals with that. Then there is a death of a Black teenager by a white police officer; the film deals with that. Then there is domestic abuse, and the film deals with that. Then there is the rigging of an election, and so the film also deals with that. Ultimately, there was just too much happening, and it was really easy to forget what Widows was originally presented as.
Several storylines get abandoned by the end which is frustrating. The film is over 2 hours long, so it’s a shame to invest all of that time and not get certain loose ends tied in return. Not to potentially spoil a very major climax in the film, but there’s a plot twist that has to do with Liam Neeson’s character that isn’t really explained and ends up not making much sense, which does the film a disservice.
Overall, I would say that Widows is at its best with the performances. The film tries to do a lot in its runtime, and it ends up falling short in the long run. But as always, there’s a silver lining; we got a new Sade song that was made for the soundtrack. So that’s a plus!
