Widows

More than just an assembly-line heist movie, Widows is a richly textured yarn that combines familiar genre elements into a fresh and invigorating package.

This stylish and evocative thriller again showcases the versatility of filmmaker Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), as well as a first-rate ensemble cast.

Set on the south side of Chicago, the action revolves around Harry (Liam Neeson), a career criminal whose latest robbery goes awry, leaving his upstanding wife, Veronica (Viola Davis), in a state of grief. She also inherits a $2 million debt to a crooked alderman candidate (Brian Tyree Henry) and his enforcer brother (Daniel Kaluuya) with a nonchalant attitude toward brutal violence.

With threats coming from all sides, Veronica discovers Harry’s handwritten plans for a heist that involves the other alderman hopeful, Jack (Colin Farrell), whose shady political legacy includes his aging father (Robert Duvall) still trying to pull the strings.

Back to those unexecuted plans, Veronica teams up with two widows who lost their husbands in Harry’s accident — Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) and Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) — along with a babysitter (Cynthia Erivo) to act as their getaway driver. The quartet sees the crime as their only path to survival.

These resilient, tough-minded women aren’t merely damsels in distress. As Veronica explains to her cohorts: “No one thinks we have the balls to pull this off.”

The opening sequence sets an appropriate tone, juxtaposing moments of quiet intimacy between Harry and Veronica at home, with the frantic intensity of the robbery that led to his demise.

The multilayered screenplay by McQueen and Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), based on a novel by British author Lynda La Plante (TV’s “Prime Suspect”), is sharply observed as it weaves together stories linked by desperation and despair. Along the way, it overcomes some minor contrivances, as well as a police shooting subplot that feels tacked on.

The story is set against a backdrop of racial tension and socioeconomic volatility, in which violence, greed and corruption are intertwined with municipal politics. The suspense heightens as the stakes escalate, with the film providing some clever twists in the final hour to add depth and complexity, building to a climax staged with genuine tension and urgency.

Widows isn’t necessarily provocative or groundbreaking, but it’s a fun and fast-paced ride that delivers the goods.

Rated R, 129 minutes.