New film Widows is now in cinemas, and has been described as a stark, violent and cynical female revenge thriller.
Newshub verticals editor Daniel Rutledge joined The AM Show on Friday to review what he calls a "brilliant film".
"It's a sprawling crime drama and a heist film, so it's very pulpy and kind of silly - but at the same time, it's extremely smart," he told host Duncan Garner.
"It's really high-calibre filmmaking and very clever, but also an unpretentious and easy-to-follow film about these widows who have to pay an enormous debt to some very nasty people after their husbands are killed in a crime-job gone wrong."
The tense thriller is directed by Steve McQueen, the filmmaker behind Hunger, Shame and 12 Years a Slave. Its stars include Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Colin Farrell, Jacki Weaver, Robert Duvall, and Liam Neeson.
Rutledge applauds the casting - but warns it's perhaps not for the squeamish.
"The violence quite awful. It's not overly graphic, but when the violence happens it's not like a woo-hoo moment... it's nasty," he says.
Widows is rated R16 and is currently playing in theatres across New Zealand.
Newshub.
