Anyone of a certain age, me included, will be more than fully aware of the ITV series that this film is based upon. It aired in the early 1980's and had two follow up series. The events of this new film version are based on that first ground-breaking series.
Harry Rawlins is a tough as nails criminal. He and his gang carry out jobs and they and their families reap the financial rewards, though their families may not be fully aware of how their lavish lifestyles are maintained. Being old school, Harry keeps a journal of each of the jobs he has carried out, not the best of ideas, especially should the Authorities get their hands on it. Mind you it all becomes irrelevant anyway, when Harry and his team are killed in a shoot-out with the Police when carrying their latest job.
The remaining widows form an alliance, this they have to do as a Politician was the target of Harry's Gang, and the money they stole was part of his Campaign funding, and understandably he wants it back, leaving Harry's widow 1 month to pay the $2 million he is owed.
So she gets the widows together to carry out the next job in Harry's journal to clear them of any debt towards the Politician, and also have enough left over to start a new life.
Anyone who has not seen the original series will no doubt really enjoy this reimagining of Lynda La Plante's material. But I felt it did little to bring anything fresh to the Screen. The advantage of the original is that as it was a series, it had far more screen time to fill out the characters. This could have been done with the film had it not looked at the Political side of things, that whole subplot was totally unnecessary.
The cast are all good, with Viola Davis on great form as Harry's widow Veronica, and also worthy of mention is Cynthia Enrivo as 'Belle'. The likes of Colin Farrell, Liam Neeson and Robert Duvall just seem to go through their paces.
Will there be any eagle eyed viewers out there who spot a wonderful cameo?
Ok but not a patch on a series that is over 35 years old and still packs a punch....5 out of 10
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