WIDOWS
While
director Steve McQueen's latest film, “Widows”, made it onto my
most anticipated list for 2018 , the final film ended up being
something of a disappointment. My anticipation for “Widows” was
based on McQueen's previous two films, “Shame” and “12 Years A
Slave”, which I thought were both magnificent pieces of art, and
both emotionally devastating (for totally different reasons). In
fact “Shame” was my favourite film of 2012 (with “12 Years A
Slave” coming in at number 5, two years later). I am always a fan
when big name directors turn their hand at a genre film because the
results are usually spectacular with their talent often elevating the
material, which is what I was expecting to happen when Steve McQueen
attacked the crime genre.
Right
from the start of the film though, something just felt off with
“Widows”. The film is actually based on a popular television
mini-series that ran in the UK during the 80's. Seeing as that
version ran over two nights, the story obviously had time to breathe
which I am assuming helped in making the character's motivations more
believable. I, personally, have not seen this incarnation of the
story so cannot say if it is better than the film but I felt that in
regards to the movie version they had trouble in justifying why these
women would band together to finish off their dead husband's work in
robbing a bank. One aspect of the film that I thought was really odd
was the casting. Viola Davis appears to be a natural choice as the
head of the female gang; she is tough as nails and takes no shit,
however her performance is far too serious and it sucks all the fun
out of the film. In fact, none of the actors ever shine in their
roles with the exception of Elizabeth Debicki who I thought was
fantastic and stole the film (and she is an actor I usually do not
respond to).
Seeing
as Steve McQueen is a socially conscious director, I have the feeling
that he tried to put too much into the film and by doing so,
ultimately watered down the narrative. There are two story lines in
“Widows”, the main story of the girls and their attempts to pull
off a robbery, and the political story line involving Colin Farrell's
character campaigning for a position he no longer wants or believes
in, but is doing so so as to not embarrass his family name. The two
story lines are meant to come together seamlessly but they never gel
at all and feel totally at odds with each other to the point that
when elements from the different stories connect, it feels forced.
While
I would never call “Widows” a bad film, I would also never call
it a great or even necessarily a successful film. It has far too
many issues to give it that label. Still it is competently made with
some fine camera work, including the film's best moment where
Farrell's character leaves a political rally in his car in the low
end part of Chicago, and travels to his home in the upmarket area,
only a few blocks away (all in one shot, taken from outside the car).
It is such a great depiction of how little space there is between
the haves and have-nots compared to the massive gulf in benefits.
Anyway, it is an average film, and that is alright because not every
film a director makes can be super successful, and I am fine with
that. The reason why I have named this the most over-rated film of
2018 is because “Widows” has been blessed with such positive
reviews praising its greatness from all angles, and making it onto
many end of year lists. Now I know that everyone's opinions are
their own, but I still cannot shake the feeling that if some no name
director had made this exact same film, and not Steve McQueen, that
any one would be talking about it. There is nothing in there special
enough to warrant the praise it is getting, and while this may come
across as a cynical view, I am sure people are rating it higher than
it is worth because of the director's name and his reputation from
his previous films. Therefore, I have no qualms in stating that I
believe that “Widows” is the most over-rated film of 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment