Female-led heists are all the rage in Hollywood this year, but whereas Oceans 8 was mostly absorbed with looking cool, Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen looks to be all about the business with Widows. The film, co-written by Gillian Flynn (Sharp Objects, Gone Girl), unites Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, and Cynthia Erivo as four women mourning their husbands’ deaths while being tasked with finishing their failed heist to settle an enormous lingering debt. The last trailer played up the action, but this one feels different.
That is to say, this trailer is full of feelings and very negative ones at that, and although the heist-y elements kick in near the end of the trailer, we learn more about these women’s emotional burden. They attend funerals, of course, and we see Davis’ character deal with threats from the bad guys, and it’s awfully interesting to see a movie where Liam Neeson flounders instead of kicking all the asses. The heavy subject matter seems delicately balanced with the action, perhaps as only McQueen could accomplish with such a project.
Indeed, it’s fair to assume that McQueen will embed some social commentary amid the contemporary Chicago backdrop of this movie in its finished state. Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, Robert Duvall, and Lukas Haas also star in the film without a Fassbender to be found. Now, that’s unusual, and Widows arrives in theaters on November 16.
