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Widows (2018)
The director of 12 Years a Slave and the screenwriter for Gone Girl have collaborated on 2018's Widows, a sizzling and bloody heist epic that combines elements of some of the strongest heist stories ever made on a dark and evocative canvas that rivets the viewer with unrelenting cinematic carnage and an impressive cast.
Based on a story by Lynda LaPlante, the story takes place in contemporary Chicago during a time of great racial and political unrest where we meet four women whose husbands were all recently murdered behind their criminal activities, including the lifting of a large amount of money, which has put these four ladies in great danger. One of the widows is approached and warned that she has one month to get a connected politician his money back. Opening her late husband's safe deposit box leads this widow to her husband's next job, which could pay off the debt and provide a tasty payoff for the women as well.
Oscar winner Steve McQueen and Gillian Flynn have constructed an elaborate and prickly story that effectively connects mob sensibilities to political ambition and leaves a lot of bodies in its wake. This is another one of those stories that requires complete attention and might even require a re-watch to catch everything. The story is rich with red herrings as it slowly unfolds but the payoff of said herrings requires patience, but not as much as you might think. This is also another of those stories that involves the death of a lot of innocent bystanders, people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I do love the way the story presents four very different, very strong women at the core of the story who each had a different level of knowledge regarding their husbands' work but when the time comes, they all step up to the plate.
McQueen and Flynn offer old fashioned, noir-ish-like story elements that effectively blend with this contemporary violent and bloody tale. I loved that one of the first clues offered in the story was a matchbook. I believe a matchbook was one of the first clues we got in the 1997 classic LA Confidential which ballooned into unspeakable crimes of political corruption that are given a unique and jaundiced shading here that rivets the viewer to the screen.
Director McQueen displays the ability to create some startling and stomach churning cinematic images as well. I love the shot of the bad guy sitting in front of a TV turning the volume WAY up so that neighbors don't hear his goons beating a guy to death. The torture of a wheelchair bound man in the middle of a bowling alley was equally unsettling. McQueen also works wonders with a first rate cast which includes standout work from Oscar winner Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki (who was so great in Baz Luhrman's The Great Gatsby), and especially greasy turns from Colin Farrell, Oscar winner Robert Duvall, and Get Out star Daniel Kaluuyo. A bloody and blistering crime drama that actually provides a truly tasty payoff.
The director of 12 Years a Slave and the screenwriter for Gone Girl have collaborated on 2018's Widows, a sizzling and bloody heist epic that combines elements of some of the strongest heist stories ever made on a dark and evocative canvas that rivets the viewer with unrelenting cinematic carnage and an impressive cast.
Based on a story by Lynda LaPlante, the story takes place in contemporary Chicago during a time of great racial and political unrest where we meet four women whose husbands were all recently murdered behind their criminal activities, including the lifting of a large amount of money, which has put these four ladies in great danger. One of the widows is approached and warned that she has one month to get a connected politician his money back. Opening her late husband's safe deposit box leads this widow to her husband's next job, which could pay off the debt and provide a tasty payoff for the women as well.
Oscar winner Steve McQueen and Gillian Flynn have constructed an elaborate and prickly story that effectively connects mob sensibilities to political ambition and leaves a lot of bodies in its wake. This is another one of those stories that requires complete attention and might even require a re-watch to catch everything. The story is rich with red herrings as it slowly unfolds but the payoff of said herrings requires patience, but not as much as you might think. This is also another of those stories that involves the death of a lot of innocent bystanders, people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I do love the way the story presents four very different, very strong women at the core of the story who each had a different level of knowledge regarding their husbands' work but when the time comes, they all step up to the plate.
McQueen and Flynn offer old fashioned, noir-ish-like story elements that effectively blend with this contemporary violent and bloody tale. I loved that one of the first clues offered in the story was a matchbook. I believe a matchbook was one of the first clues we got in the 1997 classic LA Confidential which ballooned into unspeakable crimes of political corruption that are given a unique and jaundiced shading here that rivets the viewer to the screen.
Director McQueen displays the ability to create some startling and stomach churning cinematic images as well. I love the shot of the bad guy sitting in front of a TV turning the volume WAY up so that neighbors don't hear his goons beating a guy to death. The torture of a wheelchair bound man in the middle of a bowling alley was equally unsettling. McQueen also works wonders with a first rate cast which includes standout work from Oscar winner Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki (who was so great in Baz Luhrman's The Great Gatsby), and especially greasy turns from Colin Farrell, Oscar winner Robert Duvall, and Get Out star Daniel Kaluuyo. A bloody and blistering crime drama that actually provides a truly tasty payoff.