Widows (Steve McQueen)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb / Wiki

[Henry Gale]

Easily McQueen's most fast-paced and instantly gratifying piece of work, but even in that entertainment it loses no sense of thematic complexity and emotional weight of his previous work.

There may be one or two too many characters and ideas, but it speaks to the potency of it overall that it doesn't feel overwhelmed with everything it sets out to do as much as it does an embarrassment of riches. It's the dark, R-rated, prestige flick that still somehow delivers exciting heist thrills the way I wish Ocean's 8 did.

It's a really unique film in the sense that it showcases so much powerhouse work from those involved while also being McQueen's most "accessible" and crowd-pleasing movie. Not that I don't think his past work is great, but this is likely the one that'll be the most easily to return to again and again.

[Ivan Drago]

Does it have the same aesthetic as Shame, Hunger and 12 Years A Slave? Long takes, minimal music and reliance on diegetic sound?

[Henry Gale]

Does it have the same aesthetic as Shame, Hunger and 12 Years A Slave? Long takes, minimal music and reliance on diegetic sound?

Yes and no. It sits largely in a more conventional thriller style, but McQueen still manages some unmistakably signature long takes still squeezed into the pace of it on those terms. But even within that more familiar/mainstream speed and editing on the surface, the subversion largely comes with the unique political, capitalist, and social story elements and themes that he's clearly most interested in being what comes through most sharply.

Hunger, Shame and 12 Years A Slave are all very clearly make up a more uniformly arthouse, deliberately leisured trilogy in their framework and ambition. There is a kinetic feel to everything here, with a modern Zimmer score and even contemporary music choices here and there, but it's all still very clearly through the filter of McQueen's sensibilities. I wouldn't be able to describe his last three films as crowdpleasers that would elicit hollering, laughs, gasps, and applause, but to see him concoct that here (with all the same sort of dramatic and thematic weight he's known for) is its own sort of exciting venture for him.

I now know that a Steven McQueen film with gags is a no less impactful one.

[Ivan Drago]

I now know that a Steven McQueen film with gags is a no less impactful one.

True fucking story. He depicts the current state of the country in every avenue, from conflicts in politics and racial tension to class struggles and feminine anxieties with pure authenticity in a crowdpleasing genre film, and does so without being too preachy while retaining his artistic insight. The cinematography is gorgeous to look at as are the locations oozing with upscale decadence, the editing creates a pace that's fast and engaging, and the performances are tremendous from the entire ensemble.

I already can't wait to see it again and unpack all the ideas and motifs, but on first watch, I'm confident in saying that McQueen and Flynn together have created something truly tremendous.

[Henry Gale]

Reminder that this is very good, and now that it's out, you should all see it too.

It's basically the modern ideal that we now rarely see of a mid-budget studio picture letting a great director wrangle an amazing cast and telling a story without any portion of their creative voice(s) feel compromised. Perhaps that takes having your previous film win Best Picture, but whatever, it can apparently still exist! (And if this is successful, perhaps more often. *Worries about how the Disney deal may work against that*)

[Ezee E]

Many say The Wire wouldn't work as a movie. Steve McQueen basically showed that it can, and crafted a great heist movie along with it.

What I really appreciate about this one compared to 80% of the other heist movies is that it does feel like there are stakes on the line. Most heists seem too stylish or the main characters seem too crafty or smart. Here, there's an unknown factor at place, nerves, and worries about consequences beyond just them as a person. Michelle Rodriguez may have given her career best.

Along with that, and mentioned above, there's a great portrait of current America. There's almost no good-natured person in this entire movie, but most have good intentions in mind for the environment they are in.

There's a specific shot, and I'll have to see if others picked up on it (I'm sure they have) and it's when Mulligan leaves the site of a campaign area, incredibly low-class, and within the racy conversation in a car with his aide, all in one shot from the outside, we see the neighborhood of Chicago change into high-class and a gated home. It's obvious if you're paying attention, but McQueen doesn't shove images down your throat about it.

[Pop Trash]

Widows needs to either be the down-n-dirty crime thriller it finally gets to be in the last hour, or it needs to stretch its legs and engage in the wide canvas of a HBO / Netflix / whatever series. Unfortunately, it falls halfway in between either. It gets too convoluted and the Gillian Flynn airport thriller plotting doesn't really jive with Steve McQueen's self-serious tone (I had the same problem with Shame which felt way too self-serious for the subject matter; I kept wishing I was watching American Psycho instead... 12 Years a Slave works better for me mostly because the subject matter and story are far more deserving of McQueen's long takes and dour performances from his actors).

David Fincher got the inherent humor and absurdity of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and, as such, turned what could have been a dopey bore into a great satire of modern marriage. I wish McQueen and / or Flynn cleaned up the narrative here, honed in on making a gritty genre thriller, and spent less time trying to make a Very Important Film.

Elizabeth Debicki is MVP (sorry Viola).

[dreamdead]

Props to Davis, Debicki, Kaluuya, and Farrell for doing strong work here. While Farrell's accent fails him, his actual character arc, attempting to remain in "power" even in scenarios where he folds publicly, offers a believable refusal to relinquish what he sees as a fruitful and not at all duplicitous commentary on money and power. Amidst his father's derision of how a Mulligan may in fact need to step aside for real change, it's an interesting critique, especially in light of Kaluuya's character listening to a "how to speak Spanish" audio.

There are instances where the plotting gets the better of the film here. Chief among them is not the reveal of a character's faked death, [

Show Spoiler

but rather of Neeson's pulling of the gun after striking Davis. His character had a chance to be dynamic and complex, and that maneuver reverts him to a facile villain rather than a more dimensional character struggling with the loss of a son.

] It's also likely a little too literal to have a son gunned down by police on a street with an Obama "Hope" print, methinks. And there's a few too many mirror shots, especially in the coda, when the film has a chance to be more open.

It's good throughout and there are legitimately thrilling moments, but it also missteps in a few places and glosses over characters (Siobhan - Farrell's assistant) that could have a bit more range in their own arc and trimming down of Duvall's caricature of racist privilege.

[Peng]

Feels like a whole miniseries crammed into a feature film that it is, thus stressing some of the flaws a bit. I don't mind a thick layer of Important Prestige around thriller genre core, but it requires a balancing act in tonal and plot management to make it all believable. This really requires a much pulpier touch to pull off some of its more ludicrous turns and twists, and the running time that must be divided among so many plot strands and thematic elements doesn't help either (with a police brutality scene coming almost too manipulatively glib in its brief, plot-advancing context). I feel like the gender, class, and racial dynamics, compellingly and often subtly portrayed, among the widows are meaty enough to sustain the whole film without the need for that alderman subplot. Still a lot of fun though, as the actual heist is rather gratifyingly simple in plan and execution that it allows for a lot of natural tension, and the mostly stellar ensemble cast carry the film a long way. 7/10

[transmogrifier]

Imagine a screenwriter taking a full season of The Wire and cutting it down to 2 hours without removing any of the characters or their individual stories. Now imagine that spliced together with a rather anti-climactic heist picture, topped off with a tired twist from a million other B movies that you forget to do anything with. Then imagine that this screenwriter watched Killing Them Softly just before polishing the final draft, and a whole bunch of overt political speechifying ends up coating everything as if it would justify the hollowness of everything underneath it.

Then imagine a bunch of talented filmmakers and actors get together and try to breathe this thing to life. Welcome to Widows.

(Also:
McQueen designs a showy set-up to expressly depict an element of the movie's setting in a concise, impactful way.
Letterboxd film geeks: Boo, that is so heavy handed!
Cuaron designs a showy set-up that doesn't add anything to the actual story being told and in fact only steps all over it, dampening any emotion that may have been generated
Also Letterboxd film geeks: Wow, Cuaron is a genius! It's all so beautiful!)

[Ezee E]

Imagine a screenwriter taking a full season of The Wire and cutting it down to 2 hours without removing any of the characters or their individual stories. Now imagine that spliced together with a rather anti-climactic heist picture, topped off with a tired twist from a million other B movies that you forget to do anything with. Then imagine that this screenwriter watched Killing Them Softly just before polishing the final draft, and a whole bunch of overt political speechifying ends up coating everything as if it would justify the hollowness of everything underneath it.

Then imagine a bunch of talented filmmakers and actors get together and try to breathe this thing to life. Welcome to Widows.

(Also:
McQueen designs a showy set-up to expressly depict an element of the movie's setting in a concise, impactful way.
Letterboxd film geeks: Boo, that is so heavy handed!
Cuaron designs a showy set-up that doesn't add anything to the actual story being told and in fact only steps all over it, dampening any emotion that may have been generated
Also Letterboxd film geeks: Wow, Cuaron is a genius! It's all so beautiful!)

You're not wrong. I just liked it more than you is all.

[Dukefrukem]

Imagine a screenwriter taking a full season of The Wire and cutting it down to 2 hours without removing any of the characters or their individual stories. Now imagine that spliced together with a rather anti-climactic heist picture, topped off with a tired twist from a million other B movies that you forget to do anything with. Then imagine that this screenwriter watched Killing Them Softly just before polishing the final draft, and a whole bunch of overt political speechifying ends up coating everything as if it would justify the hollowness of everything underneath it.

Then imagine a bunch of talented filmmakers and actors get together and try to breathe this thing to life. Welcome to Widows.

(Also:
McQueen designs a showy set-up to expressly depict an element of the movie's setting in a concise, impactful way.
Letterboxd film geeks: Boo, that is so heavy handed!
Cuaron designs a showy set-up that doesn't add anything to the actual story being told and in fact only steps all over it, dampening any emotion that may have been generated
Also Letterboxd film geeks: Wow, Cuaron is a genius! It's all so beautiful!)

I want to see this more than ever now.

*looks on amazon to rent*

[transmogrifier]

You're not wrong. I just liked it more than you is all.

For me, the movie just whithers and dies the moment [

Show Spoiler

Liam Neeson shows back up

]. Such a pointless, half-arsed decision that turns the more interesting story of a group of women trying to make sense of a life turned upside down and give them some agency into [

Show Spoiler

a tired story of revenge/betrayal

]. It also means that the relationship between the women (which was never really that well-sketched in the first place) becomes even more fractured, rendering the last scene, [

Show Spoiler

where I assume we are supposed to care whether they keep in contact or not

], flat.

[Irish]

It's a bad movie for pretty much all the reasons trans says it is.

McQueen overthought the material, which wasn't well suited for the screen. (And you can tell Flynn thinks as a novelist and not a screenwriter, because the scope is waaaay too bloated for a typical 2 hour movie.)

[Grouchy]

Widows is, like many of you have already gathered, a compromise between a genre heist thriller and a more thoughtful crime drama with echoes of The Wire. The thriller suffers the most from the clash since its twists and turns are undercooked as a result of all the running time devoted to developing secondary characters and backgrounds. Plus all the stuff that has to do with Liam Nesson's deception is pretty badly handled. The directorial highlight is the car trip from the slums to the posh houses. There's also a weird sense of pacing for the first hour or so - it's like the plot's wheels take forever to set up.

So, it's a failure, but a film that's worth a watch regardless.

[Dukefrukem]

This has been catch up weekend for me. Wish I saw this before the Matchies. Viola Davis.

But yes to trans's post. And Yes to Grouchy's.