"Widows": A Gender Defining Movie Event

"Widows": Movie Review

"Widows" is a ferociously brave, gender defining movie event. Director Steve McQueen ("Shame", "12 Years a Slave") has completely shattered my expectations, and has delivered one of my favorite experiences of the year.

Set in the dreary Chicago, three widows plan to pay back their husbands debt by contributing to criminal activity circulating around political strife.

Veronica (Viola Davis), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), and Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) all are powerfully moving. In their own individual complexities, a spirit of violence, and courage is shown through Hans Zimmers orchestral crescendos. It's a film intent on delivering the realities of gender, race, and politics in the crime infested Chicago.

The cinematography is gloriously bleak and full of poetic imagery. Abandoning buildings, contrasted with the secluded upper class gives the city of Chicago a multidimensional dynamic. The political fight among Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell) and Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Manning) are relevant and represent a toxicity still substantive in modern politics.

Hans Zimmer's composition and Sade's exclusive song "The Big Unknown" are knockouts. The musical high notes are equally heartbreaking as they are extraordinary.

"Widows" just further confirms that Steve McQueen is the director of a generation. It's an explosion of genius, amongst being a captivating political drama disguised as a heart-pounding heist film.

You'll be left speechless.

3 1/2 Stars Out Of 4