Widows Review: Disjointed and Forgettable

The trailer for Widows gives the impression of a badass female-led heist movie. “Because we don’t have the balls to pull this off”, says a wigless Annalise Keating as she tries to convince her fellow widows to finish a job left by her white husband.

Sadly it isn’t.

The cast is a talented ensemble. Colin Farrel can’t give us the Grindelwald we deserve but he moves on to play another good looking villain in a suit with nepotism baby Jack Mulligan. It’s unexpected to see Michelle Rodriguez of Fast and Furious fame here but kudos to her for landing a role beside Viola Davis, Robert Duvall, Liam Neeson, and Jackie Weaver. And that’s not even half of the full cast.

Steve McQueen gets great performances and comes up with nice compositions for the Widows, so you’re convinced enough to go along a heist movie that’s not really interested in being a heist movie.

As the movie attempts to add layers and elevate a cliche-ridden genre and girl-power movie, it becomes obvious that Widows has bitten more than it can chew.

Widows juggle different themes – an old fashioned caper, a political drama, and racial politics – all jammed into a heist movie that’s barely set-up. While the cast is given the opportunity to add color to their characters, they end up in subplots that go nowhere. The result is an overwrought and episodic story.

By the time the movie eventually circles back to its premise for a conclusion that is supposed to tie it all together, it has taken far too many detours and offers a too little too late pay-off.

You can tell that Steve McQueen and Gillian Flynn wants to achieve something. At its best, it explores different power dynamics channelled through great performances.

Unfortunately, the movie is dragged down by two clashing intentions. I can tell who is responsible for what, but in the end, it doesn’t matter when the result is a slog.