It may be summer, but from a film standpoint that just means we’re counting down the days till awards time. The first trailers are rolling out for fall features and one of them is an action-packed, all-female heist drama that needs to get here now. The first trailer dropped for Steve McQueen’s Widows, an adaptation of a 2002 British miniseries, and it showcases all its amazing women at the center, especially Dominican-Puerto Rican actress, Michelle Rodriguez.
Widows follows three women (Rodriguez, along with Viola Davis and Elizabeth Debicki) forced to finish a heist originally pulled off by their now deceased husbands. Like McQueen’s previous features, 2011’s Shame and 2013’s Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, there’s a unique integration of light and dark in this explosive trailer. Criminals in black outfits and masks are immediately contrasted with bright interiors. A scene of Elizabeth Debicki holding a gun is a perfect encapsulation of this interplay. The majority of the trailer is spent with the widows themselves, led by Viola Davis, though we are given glimpses at the husbands (two of which are played by Liam Neeson and Jon Bernthal), as well as the baddies coming to collect from the women. There’s plenty of special effects, from vans being propelled into the air, as well as gunplay, giving the entire film a vibe akin to heist thrillers like Heat.
Other than Davis, Michelle Rodriguez is given the majority of lines as Linda. As she straps on a bullet-proof vest and gets ready to do something bad, she mentions wanting to tell her children “I didn’t just sit there and take it.” This wouldn’t be a McQueen film without intensity and the entire trailer reaches a crescendo of darkness and violence that looks utterly compelling. Rodriguez isn’t the only Latino in Widows. Mexican actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo also pops up in the trailer though he’s given no lines and it’s unclear which character he is playing, whether he’s Rodriguez’s husband or not.
Considering McQueen’s already directed an Oscar-winning film now, if Widows maintains its mix of action and serious drama it could be an awards contender later this year.
Widows hits theaters on November 16, 2018.