Last night, I watched the advanced screening of Widows, starring Viola Davis. It's a movie anchored by Viola's character, Veronica Rawlings, who enlist fellow widows to continue a plan their husbands left behind when they were killed during their last heist mission.
Veronica finds herself embroiled in the criminal world when it's revealed that her husband's last heist job, in which he died, was stealing $2 million from Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), a crime boss-slash-politician who's running a campaign in the South Side precinct of Chicago. Since all of the money disappeared along with thieves, and he needs that money to continue campaigning, Jamal basically makes it known to Veronica that she has one month to produce the cash.
And this is when Veronica puts on her thinking cap to get it done.
Widows is a massive ensemble cast that includes some old and new faces of your favorite actor and actresses. Personally, I was excited to know Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta) and Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Black Panther) were a part of the cast.
Walking out the theater, I left away with the sense of, "Okay." It's all I could muster up once the credits began to roll. "Okay". Reason? Because I felt the movie was unfinished. Granted, it's a long movie, running 129 minutes. And yet, so many obvious plot holes were left exposed. Now that I think about it, if each plot was tied up with a pretty bow, then we'd probably still be in the theater right now.
But it's like, why make Jamal Manning such a big presence in the first half of the movie and then non-existent in the second half? The way one of the ladies was hastily recruited in the heist made me roll my eyes. There's a nice twist in the movie - audible gasps filled the viewing room, however, the twist wasn't explored enough. Finally, Tayne gave me the biggest laugh when she felt that Robert Duvall kept missing his lines due to old age and his scenes in the movie were his 'best' takes. The rest of us tried (and failed) to convince her that, no, Robert actually played the character as it was.
Honestly, the movie was saved by terrific acting, especially from Elizabeth Debicki (Alice Gunner) and Daniel Kaluuya (Jatemme Manning). If you can overlook unresolved plot holes, than go see Widows. If anything, it's an action-filled, enjoyable ride.
