The movie is set in and around downtown Chicago and tracks the seedy underbelly of the city's political and violent crimes. There are several threads of storyline that open the film, almost to an overwhelming amount, but we soon realize the connection: that a group of men tasked with carrying out a robbery are killed in a police raid, and their wives are left with more questions than answers. The ringleader of the criminal troupe is a commanding leader (Liam Neeson), who is survived by his wife, Veronica (Davis). She is a woman already closed off the the world. She is quiet, speaks little, and carries herself with a ferocity that catches others off guard. Through flashbacks, we learn that it is a lot more than the death of her husband weighing on her heart. The other wives include Michelle Rodriguez, a small business owner who is left without a shop without the help of her husband, and Elizabeth Debicki as a frail woman who has come to accept abuse from the one man in her life. As these women all meet, they make a realization: that they are financially desperate.
Not the least of all is a threat from a candidate running for alderman (Brian Tyree Henry), a dominating man who lost money in the robbery. He is an up and coming candidate vying for a seat against Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell), the son of the current alderman who hopes to take up his father's mantle and continue on leading a neighborhood that is clearly not a reflection of his own upbringing. The addition of this political rivalry to an already crowded screenplay demands greater focus as an audience member, but McQueen is smart to use these scenes as a way to highlight Chicago's gentrification and racial divides. One shot in particular shows Mulligan traveling from a public speech back to his home down the street. In one shot, we see a deserted, graffitied neighborhood transform into a residential oasis complete with mansions and nice cars.
Veronica is left with her husband's notebook, a plan that highlights his future heist which would collect a cool $5 million. With blackmail from this politician weighing on her mind and no hope of pleading her case to the police, she reaches out to these other women with broken homes with a proposition: help me and walk away with $1 million each. It's a stretch, but one by one the women come to the same conclusion: "why not?"
The heist is slow to build, and in fact it feels like only the last 15 or 20 minutes that is the ultimate climax. The story is bulked up with side plots including one of the widows becoming a female escort and falling for an architect, a hitman (Daniel Kaluuya) hunting Veronica always one step behind, and a babysitter who falls into the group of women by mere chance. Thinking back on the story, I see how each thread is resolved, but to keep the momentum going, I can't help but wonder if a few more edits might have helped?
Viola Davis is fantastic. What more can be said? She commands the screen in a way much separated from her more sympathetic turns in, say, "Doubt" or "Fences." She transforms from a woman burdened by loneliness, and then develops into the heir apparent to her husband's work. The other widows come to despise her, but there is careful thought and determination that she brings to the role that demands respect (and dare I say another Oscar nomination?). The widows are all great, but the other standout comes from Debicki as Alice, this tall blonde woman who begins to fall for one of her clients. She could have developed into a more comedic part, but she has a few scenes of real cunning that prove she has more than meets the eye.
Once again, the addition of Colin Farrell to the cast is questionable to say the least, as time and again he has proven that American accents are not his forte. As a sixth generation Chicagoan, his dialect sounds more like an Irish man who has lived in Boston for a few months. It's a completely baffling miss that distracts from the movie at every turn, especially in his scenes against the always powerful Robert Duvall. Also questionable is Kaluuya (a recent nominee for Best Actor in "Get Out"). As the villain, he simply misses the mark. His attempt at ruthlessness simply comes across as "acting" and the scenes meant to demonstrate his ferocity instead show an actor that is perhaps out of his range. I felt the same about his performance in "Black Panther." Perhaps playing a henchman isn't his calling.
Like "The Fugitive," "Widows" creates a real sense of Chicago and demonstrates a sense of place that gives these characters room to explore. The cinematography is exciting, and there is more than one sequence that involves very technical camera moves and expert framing that captured my imagination. Like I said, there is so much to like here, I only wish the movie was more a sum of all its parts. As a piece of entertainment, I think many will walk away satisfied. If you're looking for a pure action flick though, you might be surprised at all the other plot you will need to tread through. "Widows" is ultimately an enjoyable (albeit crammed) story.
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