Widows

Went into the theatre expecting so much from this movie. Unfortunately it was slow, boring, incoherent movie with convoluted plot twists that weren't properly explained. I kept hoping for a big reveal / climax that would somehow salvage the waste of time that it was but it never happened. In fact the end was even more disappointing and meaningless.

Greetings again from the darkness. Woman power. Black power. Racist old white men. Corrupt politicians. Abusive husbands. Cheating white husbands. Racist cops. Men are bad. Women are strong and good. If a filmmaker were to blend all of these stereotypes into a single movie, then as movie goers we should expect an ultra-talented filmmaker like Steve McQueen to go beyond conventional genre. Unfortunately, a nice twist on the heist movie formula from Lynda La Plante's novel turns into predictability that whips us with societal clichés posing as societal insight. I seem to be one of the few not raving about this movie. Hey it has the director behind Best Picture Oscar winner 12 YEARS A SLAVE (Mr. McQueen), a screenplay he co-wrote with Gillian Flynn (GONE GIRL) from the aforementioned novel by Lynda La Plante, and a deep and talented cast of popular actors. It ticks every box and it's likely to be a crowd-pleaser, despite my disappointment. Every spot where I expected intrigue, the film instead delivered yet another eye-roll and easy-to-spot twist with a cultural lesson. Each of the actors does tremendous work, it just happens to be with material they could perform in their sleep. It's the kind of film where audience members talk to the screen - and it plays like that's the desired reaction. This is the 4th generation of the source material, including 3 previous TV mini-series (1983, 1985, 2002). It makes sense that this material would be better suited to multiple episodes, rather than hurried through 2 hours. There are too many characters who get short-changed, and so little time to let the personalities breathe and grow. But this is about delivering as many messages as possible. A strong premise is based in Chicago, and finds a team of four burglars on a job gone wrong. This leaves a mobster/politician looking to the four widows (hence the title) for reparations. Since the women have no money, their only hope is to tackle the next job their men had planned. Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, and Carrie Coon play the widows, though only the first three are given much to do, as the talented Ms. Coon is short-changed. In fact, Ms. Davis is such a strong screen presence that she dominates every scene she is in - she's a true powerhouse. Even Liam Neeson can't hang with her. Colin Farrell appears as a smarmy politician and Robert Duvall is his f-word spouting former Alderman dad. Cynthia Erivo has a nice supporting turn in support of the women, and Bryan Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Garret Dillahunt, Kevin J O'Connor, Lukas Haas, and Jon Bernthal fill out the deep cast ... see what I mean about too many characters and too little time? There is no single thing to point at as the cause for letdown. The story just needed to be smarter and stop trying so hard to comment on current societal ills. As an example, a quick-trigger cop shooting an innocent young African-American male seems thrown in for the sole purpose of ensuring white guilt and an emotional outburst from the audience. It's difficult to even term this film as manipulating since we see the turns coming far in advance. Two far superior message films released earlier this year are Spike Lee's BLACKKKLANSMAN and Boots Riley's SORRY TO BOTHER YOU. For those who need only emotion and little intellect in their movies, this not-so-thrilling heist might work. For the rest of you, it's good eye-roll practice.

For the first two thirds nearly nothing happens, the pace is so slow. I was shifting uncomfortably in my seat along with many others in the theatre. For such a long talky film you never really get to know and invest in the characters as there's just not enough character development. Subsequently the ending just left me shrugging my shoulders and saying 'so what?'.

Going against the grain of all the positive reviews, I found this a very unsatisfying and silly drama. The plot is incoherent and so many story lines are left undeveloped and, essentially, irrelevant. Key plot lines make no sense at all from the macro plot to the micro details that don't stack up and serve only to undermine it. I suspect the very same film from a less regarded director would be slammed but we become hyptonised to assume there must be something important and worthy going on here. With so many plot lines this would make a great Netflix series but as a film it is very poor. Only the acting redeems it.

An engaging movie with hard hitting drama and strong acting from all of the cast. Although a heist story, it focuses more on the other elements involved - politics, corruption, greed, revenge and empowerment for women and black Americans. It's unhurried in its delivery, and the style works really well as it doesn't detract from the story. The plot has some good twists and wraps up nicely at the end.

For the first two thirds nearly nothing happens, the pace is so slow. I was shifting uncomfortably in my seat along with many others in the theatre. For such a long talky film you never really get to know and invest in the characters as there's just not enough character development. Subsequently the ending just left me shrugging my shoulders and saying 'so what?'.

The actors may be high calibre and the plot ok but as not a single person in the whole film is, or does, anything vaguely likeable I couldn't have cared less what the outcome was. Everyone looks thoroughly miserable throughout and this makes the film a hard slog, with few redeemable features.

Solid heist film that uses the widows instead of the men. It also has a lot of solid sub-plots that make the film flow really well. The ending is a little predicable but still worth the watch.

Sauce

Right from the opening sequence, a car chase which is post robbery and the women doing their daily stuff and then grieves. It sets the mood and tone of the movie, strong women making big life changing decisions. The message the movie makes regarding various of topics was needed and it didn't feel out of place. Steve McQueen did a great job at directing the movie, it's a solid crime/thriller but it isn't perfect but still a good movie, it could have been much better than it was but this is what we got. The ensemble cast is superb, with famous actors and actresses makes this a must see movie just for the cast. There is so many well known and familiar actors, it's great. Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Colin Farrell and Brian Tyree Henry stood in the most, bringing most in terms of performance and to the screen.