Review: Widows
Dell has perfect timing with his annual Girl Week blogathon. I saw two wonderful female led films last week and saved them for this, so let's jump into the first one...Widows!
When Veronica's (Viola Davis) husband Harry (Liam Neeson) is murdered during a robbery, she finds herself on the receiving end of his debts when she's paid a visit by Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) demanding the 2 million dollars Harry stole from him. She rounds up the other widows from the job gone bad, Alice, (Elizabeth Debicki) Linda, (Michelle Rodriguez) and another woman, Belle (Cynthia Erivo) to do their husbands' final job.
Does Steve McQueen make bad movies? I don't think he does. Widows is amazing. He and his co-writer Gillian Flynn are a great match. The story is rich, but quite vast. It definitely feels like it could be a novel. We not only spend time with our four main ladies but with several other side characters too. In a way, it's nice to properly build the "world" and develop each character, but the ladies are the stars here and sometimes it's hard to part with them, even for a few minutes of screen time.
Speaking of the characters, the entire cast right down to Olivia the Dog is amazing, but the two stand outs are easily Davis and Debicki. Their characters are the most complex and they both played them brilliantly. Debicki gave another strong performance earlier this year in The Tale, so it was nice to see her shine here (and play much less of a creeper) Davis, as always is extraordinary.
I should point out, the editing at the very beginning is so jarring that it almost comes off as a jump scare. It's not bad, but kind of amusing in retrospect.
Recommended: Yes
Grade: A
Memorable Quote: "You need to watch the way you speak to me." - Belle (Cynthia Erivo)
When Veronica's (Viola Davis) husband Harry (Liam Neeson) is murdered during a robbery, she finds herself on the receiving end of his debts when she's paid a visit by Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) demanding the 2 million dollars Harry stole from him. She rounds up the other widows from the job gone bad, Alice, (Elizabeth Debicki) Linda, (Michelle Rodriguez) and another woman, Belle (Cynthia Erivo) to do their husbands' final job.
Does Steve McQueen make bad movies? I don't think he does. Widows is amazing. He and his co-writer Gillian Flynn are a great match. The story is rich, but quite vast. It definitely feels like it could be a novel. We not only spend time with our four main ladies but with several other side characters too. In a way, it's nice to properly build the "world" and develop each character, but the ladies are the stars here and sometimes it's hard to part with them, even for a few minutes of screen time.
Speaking of the characters, the entire cast right down to Olivia the Dog is amazing, but the two stand outs are easily Davis and Debicki. Their characters are the most complex and they both played them brilliantly. Debicki gave another strong performance earlier this year in The Tale, so it was nice to see her shine here (and play much less of a creeper) Davis, as always is extraordinary.
I should point out, the editing at the very beginning is so jarring that it almost comes off as a jump scare. It's not bad, but kind of amusing in retrospect.
Recommended: Yes
Grade: A
Memorable Quote: "You need to watch the way you speak to me." - Belle (Cynthia Erivo)
I loved this film. Thought it was superb. Performances are perfect. To me it shows that instead of flipping genders just write female centered movies. It makes for a better film.
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY!
Deletei loooooved the editing! i also want to give a shout out to michelle rodriguez who delivered a career-best performance. LOVED her too.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! I tend not to see a ton of her work because it's usually within action movies I don't care for, but this is the best I've seen of her.
DeleteI am hoping to see this week as I love Steve McQueen's films and like the fact that it's not a typical heist film.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy it!
DeleteThanks, as always, for joining in! Really looking forward to the rest of the week. I really hope I get to see this before it disappears from theaters.
ReplyDeleteI hope so too!
DeleteI seem to be in the minority here, I didn't enjoy it. Although the characters were great, I felt they were underdeveloped and they spent one hour and a half building a story and some characters to finish everything in 5 minutes, with no clear or satisfying finish, with the exception of Michelle Rodriguez's character. I was disappointed, actually, in this movie. But that's just me!
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely not just you! I've read a few complaints similiar to that, which I can understand.
DeleteThis sounds really good; I hope to get to see this one soon.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
DeleteI haven't gotten to this yet but it's definitely on my list. Love Viola Davis and Colin Farrell so you've whetted my appetite even more.
ReplyDeleteI hope you like it when you get to it!
DeleteViola! Viola! Viola!
ReplyDeleteYaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssssssssssss
DeleteYou were much more into this than I was, it's a good thing I already wrote a review because every day I was finding new issues with this lol
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely issues but I just enjoyed myself too much to really harp on them lol.
DeleteI want to see this and another great review. This makes me think of how the Ocean’s flick with Sandra and Cate should have been
ReplyDeleteThat's a good conparison! I never bothered with that.
Delete