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Movies that feel like Widows (2018)

If you loved Widows, the closest films we have are Sexy Beast (2001), The Aura (2005) and SPL: Kill Zone (2005). All three share Widows' contemplative and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Amazon Prime Video, Criterion Channel and MGM Plus and others, checked against today's data.

A police shootout leaves four thieves dead during an explosive armed robbery attempt in Chicago. Their widows have nothing in common except a debt left behind by their spouses' criminal activities. Hoping to forge a future on their own terms, they join forces to pull off a heist.

🍅 91% Rotten Tomatoes6.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Steve McQueencontemplativegrittytenseplayfulatmospheric

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If Widows hit the spot, these will too

Sexy Beast poster
Sexy Beast
2001 · dir. Jonathan Glazer
🍅 87%7.3crime · thriller · drama

Common ground in both: heist and money

Ex-safecracker Gal Dove has served his time behind bars and is blissfully retired to a Spanish villa paradise with a wife he adores. The idyll is shattered by the arrival of his nemesis Don Logan, intent on persuading Gal to return to London for one last big job.

The Aura poster
The Aura
2005 · dir. Fabián Bielinsky
🍅 88%7.1drama · thriller

Both are working the same pair: betrayal, neo-noir

The difference: Not nearly as gritty as Widows

A quiet, epileptic taxidermist plans the perfect crime. All he needs is the right opportunity. An accident, perhaps…

SPL: Kill Zone poster
SPL: Kill Zone
2005 · dir. Wilson Yip
🍅 80%6.9action · crime · drama

The same preoccupation in both: neo-noir

The difference: None of the play Widows is built on

Chan, an articulate senior detective nearing the end of his career, is taking care of the daughter of a witness killed by ruthless crime lord Po. Martial arts expert Ma is set to take over as head of the crime unit, replacing Chan who wants an early retirement.

Jackie Brown poster
Jackie Brown
1997 · dir. Quentin Tarantino
🍅 88%7.5crime · drama · thriller

One thread runs through both: heist

The difference: Made in the 1990s, in a different era of the craft

Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to keep the money for herself.

Bound poster
Bound
1996 · dir. Lana Wachowski
🍅 88%7.3drama · thriller · crime

Contemplative where it counts, gritty underneath

Corky, a tough female ex-convict working on an apartment renovation in a Chicago building, meets a couple living next door, Caesar, a paranoid mobster, and Violet, his seductive girlfriend, who is immediately attracted to her.

One False Move poster
One False Move
1992 · dir. Carl Franklin
🍅 93%7.1crime · drama · thriller

Tense and atmospheric in the same breath

Following a series of drug deals and murders, three criminals -- Fantasia, Ray Malcolm and Pluto -- travel from Los Angeles to Houston, finally arriving in a small Arkansas town to go into hiding. Two detectives from the LAPD, who are already on the case, contact the town's sheriff, Dale Dixon, to alert him of the fugitives' presence in the area. Underestimating Dixon, the criminals have no idea what they are about to face.

Animal Kingdom poster
Animal Kingdom
2010 · dir. David Michôd
🍅 94%7.2crime · drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Joshua “J” is taken in by his extended family after his mother dies of an overdose. The clan, ruled by J’s scheming grandmother, is heavily involved in criminal activities, and J is soon indoctrinated into their way of life. But J is given a chance to take another path when a cop seeks to help him.

Odds Against Tomorrow poster
Odds Against Tomorrow
1959 · dir. Robert Wise
🍅 88%7.4crime · drama · thriller

Crime built on play, twice over

An old-time crook plans a heist. When one of his two partners is found out to be a black man tensions flare.

The Night of the Hunter poster
The Night of the Hunter
1955 · dir. Charles Laughton
🍅 93%8crime · drama · thriller

Common ground: widow

In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.

The Grifters poster
The Grifters
1990 · dir. Stephen Frears
🍅 92%6.9crime · drama

Gritty thriller in both cases

A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.

White Heat poster
White Heat
1949 · dir. Raoul Walsh
🍅 94%8.1crime · drama · thriller

Tense drama, and it commits to that

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado poster
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
2018 · dir. Stefano Sollima
🍅 62%7.1action · crime · thriller

Both lean on atmosphere more than on crime

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

Agent Matt Graver teams up with operative Alejandro Gillick to prevent Mexican drug cartels from smuggling terrorists across the United States border.

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The best-reviewed films that share Widows’ defining feeling.