Destroyer

DESTROYER (15)

D: Karyn Kusama

Annapurna/30 West/Automatik (Fred Berger, Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi)

USA 🇺🇸 2018

123 mins


Drama/Crime


W: Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi

DP: Julie Kirkwood

Ed: Plummy Tucker

Mus: Theodore Shapiro


Nicole Kidman (Erin Bell), Toby Kebbell (Silas), Tatiana Maslany (Petra), Scoot McNairy (Ethan), Bradley Whitford (DiFranco), Sebastian Stan (Chris)


Nicole Kidman sheds her usual fine looks to turn up looking more like Charlize Theron in Monster for this gritty crime drama in which she plays a morally ambiguous police detective who plans revenge for a previous undercover case which went bad whilst juggling domestic issues involving her daughter and ex-husband.

The film adopts a non-linear narrative which isn't completely necessary, with backstory that is slowly revealed as the film progresses.

Nicole Kidman delivers a strong performance in the lead role and was rewarded with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress (Drama). The rest of the performances are also good, but the pacing is quite turgid due to the non-liner styling and it pretty much sums up to the same plot seen in Rampart (qv), albeit with a female police officer rather than a male.

6/10


Nicole Kidman in Destroyer
Nicole Kidman in Destroyer