Widows: Bleak Heist

If you go into Widows assuming you're going to be treated to a frothy Ocean's 8-style caper, you're going to be sorely disappointed. However, if you go into it expecting a noir thriller directed by Steve McQueen and starring Viola Davis with guns of steel, you will be thrilled beyond belief.

The movie opens with a heist gone wrong, and a gang of robbers are killed. Led by Harry Rawlings (Liam Neeson), their misdeeds finally caught up with them. Unfortunately, the money they stole belongs to a Chicago gangster and he needs it to finance his political campaign. So he rocks up to Veronica's (Viola Davis) penthouse and demands that she pay up $2 million to satisfy her dead husband's debts. Thankfully, Harry left her his notebook, which contains the plans for his next heist, a job that would net a cool $5 million. So, Veronica reaches out to the widows of her husband's gang and asks if they will help her before they are all murdered by the mob. Unsurprisingly, they agree.

This female dream team includes Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, and Cynthia Erivo. You may think you know what part each has to play in the heist, but as the movie progresses, each lady demonstrates hitherto unknown depths and resolve to get this plan moving along. They may be poor and on the brink of ruin, but these women aren't going down without a fight. And all of this takes place against the political backdrop of the special election for Chicago's 18th Ward, a fight rife with corruption, racism, and nepotism ('Murica!). There are a lot of seemingly disparate plots in this film, but stick with it - they all coalesce in a fashion that led the audience in my particular theater to gasp out loud.

This movie is extremely dark and violent - Daniel Kaluuya plays one of the mobsters threatening the widows, and if you thought you loved him from Get Out and Black Panther, be prepared to now be insanely frightened of him for the rest of your days. He is a merciless psychopath in this movie, and I need him to star in a romcom ASAP so he can stop featuring in my nightmares. Meanwhile, the ladies of this film put Wonder Woman to shame. The minute Viola Davis is in a tank top hauling bags of money, you'll be wondering what her gym routine is, because that lady is a bona fide action star. The dialogue between her and the other women is a Bechdel dream, revealing little nuances of the women's characters. It is particularly enlightening to see how she and Erivo have a different dynamic as two black women, and the initial distrust and then grudging respect they amass for each other.

Co-written by Gillian Flynn and Steve McQueen, Widows covers a whole slew of themes, whether it's race, gender, or political corruption. It is a movie of our times and while oftentimes cringe-inducing with its violence, you will definitely whoop and cheer for these women as they overcome the odds to fight the man. Hollywood, pay attention. We want more movies like this please.