Destroyer: Film Review

Destroyer: Film Review

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Scoot McNairy, Sebastian Stan, Bradley Whitford
Director: Karyn Kusama

As thrilling as it can be to see Nicole Kidman completely transformed in this role of Erin Bell, the intricacies of what Karyn Kusama has constructed may lead some to recall the winding narrative of True Detective.

Kidman is detective Erin Bell, who discovers at a crime scene that a body has a connection to a case from her past, and the possibility that a gang boss (Kebbell) she once believed dead is somehow back.

Setting out on a dogged trail, Bell finds the dots from her past reconnecting as the former LAPD detective gets more deeply involved.

Destroyer is a hard film to endure at times, such is its unrelenting commitment to bleakness.

And despite a transformed Kidman's tenacious grip on proceedings, she's occasionally  a hard emotional and unempathetic character to latch on to, no matter how intriguing proceedings are.

But where Destroyer triumphs is in layering a narrative that takes a little time to crack.

As the pieces on the board shift and re-align, things start to fall into place as they should, eventually rewarding you for your efforts. And it's here that Destroyer's strength seems to appear, thanks to
Kidman's gritty turn and the fact she's shuffling through past mistakes of her life.

It may be difficult to love, but it's not difficult to salute Destroyer for doing something that feels different, even if parts of the story are traditional in many ways. It could have done with some more urgency at times, but for now Destroyer shows that a combination of killer acting and material are no bad thing.