This week’s Oceans 8 release will see Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, and Rihanna heisting jewels at the Met Gala, but in case you are already looking for the next such female-centric film, the trailer for Widows has arrived. Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) and his co-writer, Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), have teamed up to unite four women through one common bond — lingering debt from a failed heist by their husbands — and they take on that same job with the goal of a proper finish.
The ladies who will be mopping up the male-induced mess include Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, and Cynthia Erivo, who embark on the dangerous mission that threatens to further rip apart their respective families. Liam Neeson plays the leader (and late husband of Davis’ character) of the failed heist, and the cast is rounded out by Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, Robert Duvall, and Lukas Haas. The end result looks thematically heavier than one would expect from a heist film, although there’s action aplenty.
Although a heist film stands as a major departure from McQueen’s past body of work — he’s spent the past decade directing the aforementioned historical drama and extremely grim subject matter in twin Michael Fassbender films, Shame and Hunger — McQueen can generally do no wrong. And of course, with a story set in contemporary Chicago, there’s sure to be some social commentary here, too. Widows arrives in theaters on November 16.
