Widows

Steve McQueen’s intellectual heist movie was heavy on the drama but light on the action/thriller, but thankfully, he had Viola Davis leading the terrific cast. The screenplay by Gillian Flynn and McQueen was straightforward enough and read like a standard beach-read thriller, but McQueen’s assured directing and the ensemble’s vivid performance elevated it above a simple heist thriller. Davis channeled her tv alter ego, Annalise Keating, and mixed it with a dash of Liam Neeson-esque kickassery - the irony! - and absolutely slayed it. She anchored the film with a strong performance that was equal parts vulnerable and tough as nails. She made her character and the odd predicament that she found herself in believable. Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki both stood out as the other widows, with Rodriguez giving one of her best acting performance in years and Debicki remained one of the few new actresses that is exciting to watch and is surely poised for an Oscar soon. Carrie Coon, again, underrated and underused, and Cynthia Erivo is slowly building up a strong film presence. As for the boys, they really do take a backseat here with Liam Neeson being all Neeson-ish, Colin Farrell trying to inject some dimension into a stock character, Robert Duvall clearly just having fun and Daniel Kaluuya being all menacing and scary but not really really. What this film lacked was a strong villain/antagonist, but other than that, this was easily a great time at the cinema.