What I’m watching: a well-done crime film that transcends one’s expectations and a crazy drive-in movie.

In Theaters: Widows

British director Steve McQueen’s new drama has been sold as a crime/caper film. The premise is that a robbery goes horribly wrong, killing the crew of thieves. Their widows take on the responsibility of carrying out plans for the next heist.

Okay that sounds interesting, but “Widows” is so much more than that.

Viola Davis plays Veronica, the wife of professional thief Harry Rawlings, played by Liam Neeson. Harry and his whole crew have been killed in a police shoot-out and Veronica must face life on her own.

With a straight job, a penthouse apartment and a nice lifestyle, it’s clear that she has turned her head away from the life her husband has led. Now, she is being threatened by men who claim she owes them the $2 million Harry was stealing. She has two weeks to get the money.

Out of desperation and with a detailed plan Harry has left behind, she decided to stage a robbery to get the money she needs. She requires help, though, and recruits the two other widows of the gang: Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Linda (Michelle Rodriguez). Both are reluctant but also are willing to do something to gain some stability.

Another woman is recruited to act as a driver (Cythia Erivo).

Enriching the plot is a secondary one. The man who wants the money, Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) is running for office and needs additional funds for his campaign. Manning sees the move from crime to politics as a logical one that helps him secure a steady paycheck and power.

His opponent is the latest of three generations of ward politicians who control the office, a seat on the Chicago city council. Colin Farrell is the reluctant candidate Jack Mulligan who seems to view his campaign as an obligation he must fulfill rather than something he actually wants to do.

All of these plot points collide at the same time McQueen presents a story of a group of diverse women trying to cope with a tragedy.

Davis is superb as the anchor of the story. We feel her rage, her fear and her willingness to do what she must do. Her performance is matched by the coolness of Henry’s portrayal and Farrell’s complicated and conflicted candidate.

There is a lot going on in this film, but McQueen, who came to the forefront with “12 Years a Slave” shows that he can handle switching gears from action to suspense to human drama. A fascinating film, “Widows” crashes through audience’s expectations.

On Blu-ray: Wonder Women

On Black Friday, my buddy Mark Masztal and I took a trip to Bridgeport, CT, and to The Archives, the store for Vinegar Syndrome.

This company restores exploitation films of different genres from the 1970s and 1980 presenting them in pristine form with plenty of extras.

It’s like the Criterion Collection only for films most people have forgotten.

I was amazed to see a film I had heard about but never seen, a science fiction action movie set in the Philippines called “Wonder Women.”

No, it doesn’t have anything to do with the comic book character. In fact, according to the director in the commentary DC Comics actually filed an injunction to prevent the film to be released with that title!

For me, it’s little details like that which make watching a film such as this one so enjoyable.

The plot, such as it is, involves a mad scientist (Nancy Kwan) who is using a female martial artist army to kidnap star athletes so she can transplant their organs into the bodies of people who have the cash. Trying to stop her is an intrepid American private eye played with square-jawed determination by Ross Hagen, who was also a producer for this film.

The film is campy fun with 1970s drive-in vibe. It has action, nudity, a car chase, silly monster make-ups and acting that takes the proceedings quite seriously.

What I enjoy so much is hearing how the film was made and in the commentary director Robert Vincent O’Neill treats viewers to anecdotes such as filming the lengthy chase sequence with hidden cameras so he didn’t have to stage crowd scenes in busy streets. He speaks of how they had to use the hotel in which the cast and crew was staying as a sound stage because of bad weather, filming the scientist’s operating room in the hotel’s disco!

He even reassured us the real police officer who was hit by one of his cars in the chase scene was not hurt. The officer had no idea he was watching something being filmed.

Perhaps it’s because I like rooting for the underdog, but I always have admired filmmakers who have to make do with what they have. Somehow their accomplishment, no matter how silly, seems to be more of a triumph than multi-million dollar productions.