Widows (2018)

Huge doesn’t even come close to describe how big of a fan I am of Steve McQueen, the British director not the American actor. It comes without saying that I was very looking forward to Widows, his fourth feature film. Unfortunately, my cinema didn’t show it so I had to wait for the home release to watch it.

The story follows three women who don’t know each other, Veronica Rawlings (Viola Davis), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki), and Amanda (Michelle Rodriguez), and whose only connection is their criminal husbands who got killed by the police during a heist. When Veronica learns that her husband, Harry (Liam Neeson), stole $2 million from Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), a crime boss and politician, and that Jamal wants her to give him his money back, she enlists the other widows and decides to carry out a $5 million worth heist planned by his late husband.

Widows is completely different from the films McQueen has made so far —Hunger, Shame, and 12 Years a Slave— and you can tell right away from its plot whose purpose is mainly to entertain —he still addresses sexual, political and racial issues, but they are on the background— and it’s entertaining. And engaging and interesting. The problem is that there are too many subplots and not enough time to develop all of them properly —it feels like a collection of stories with a forced connection—, there are many plot holes and coincidences, and the twist, although you don’t see it coming, doesn’t quite have the effect it’s supposed to have.

The characters too were a bit of a disappointment. This is the first time McQueen focuses on female characters and, since Gillian Flynn co-wrote the screenplay with him, I was expecting great characters. Unfortunately, they aren’t that fleshed out —because of this, I found it hard to connect emotionally with them—, and, if it wasn’t for the actresses playing them, they would be overshadowed by the male characters.

The cast, as I was saying, does a wonderful job though and makes you forget the many flaws in the script. Viola Davis is great as usual in the role of a strong woman who is very reminiscent of her character from How to Get Away With Murder, Michelle Rodriguez is feisty as always, Chyntia Erivo is barely in the film and yet manages to make a strong impression, but it's Elizabeth Debicki who steals the show for me as a fragile, vulnerable housewife who is done being mistreated. The actors also do a good job, the strongest performance coming from Daniel Kaluuya as he delivers quite a terrifying performance in the role of a psychotic henchman. 

20th Century Fox

Great performances from the cast aren't the only thing that McQueen delivers with Widows though. The tension he builds is nothing short of spectacular and keeps you on the edge of your seat for most of the film's running time. The cinematography is beautiful and adds a sense of realism to the film and the thrilling score fits the story very well. 

Sicario (2015)

I remember seeing the trailer to Sicario in cinemas back in 2015 and thinking, "damn, that looks good", then somehow I managed to miss it and for some reason or another I kept putting it off. In the meantime, I watched Hell or High Water and Wind River, both written (and the latter also directed) by Taylor Sheridan and having loved both I figured it'd make sense to check out his first work. Also, this movie is getting a sequel this year and it's basically one of the most anticipated films of the year so, yeah, I had to watch this. 

After surviving an explosion following the discovery of a house with dozens of corpses, idealistic FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) joins a special anti-drugs task force run by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) that operates on the border area between the U.S. and Mexico. With the help of the mysterious Columbian-born Alejandro (Benicio del Toro), their ultimate goal is the capture or kill of cartel boss Manuel Diaz (Bernardo P. Saracino).

There's a lot more to the plot but saying anything else would spoil the film if you haven't seen it yet. Anyway, it's a pretty simple and straightforward plot, there are some twists along the way but nothing jaw-dropping and yet it keeps you glued to the screen, guessing what will happen next, what the objective of the mission really is until it unravels at the end. What's more important is the message the story delivers. In a few words, it says that all the U.S. and other foreign involvment in the war on drugs has only made the situation worse.

What makes the story more interesting is that we see it through the eyes of an ingenué, someone who believes it's all black and white and that there's nothing in between. That's what makes the main character, Kate Macer, so interesting too. The character is paper-thin, with no development whatsoever --we only learn that she is divorced and hasn't had a man in years. She is completely irrelevant to the story, many said, but she isn't. *SPOILER*If you follow the story instead of, I don't know, thinking about how hot Emily Blunt is or whatever, then you know there's a reason for her to be in the film, and it's to legitimize the operation of the CIA because they cannot operete on domestic soil without a federal agent*SPOILER* Also, her being the typical agent who always follows the rules allows us to see the collision between the black and white and makes the blurry line between good and evil more clearly. Emily Blunt does a really good job at capturing the struggle and inner conflict of her character, her difficulty to adapt.

Lionsgate

The other main characters are thin too, especially Josh Brolin's Matt Graver who comes off just as an asshole. Benicio del Toro's Alejandro is given some backstory but he doesn't have any more depth that Brolin's. That said, both actors, especially del Toro, give good performances. Some of the other members of the cast, Daniel Kaluuya and Jon Bernthal, also make a good use of their small screen time.

In addition to Sheridan's screenplay and soling acting, Sicario also benefits from Denis Villeneuve's direction. The guy knows how to build tension and the movie shows it. Though there aren't enormously tense scenes, Villeneuve managed to keep the tension high thoughtout the entire film and delivered some nice and tense action sequences.

The film also has an outstading score by the late Johann Johannsson, amazing sound editing, and a flawless cinematography by (finally Academy Award winner) Roger Deakin.