Destroyer

Nicole Kidman delivers a compelling, downbeat, and nihilistic performance as a bitter and broken detective in this ponderous crime drama from director Karyn Kusama

Kidman’s transformation from a young and eager officer in the Los Angeles Police Department to a hollow shell of her former self is convincing, and the rest of the acting from the top-billed cast is solid. But suffers from its drawn-out revelations and excessive flashbacks. These oppressive reveries too frequently bring the movie’s pacing to a grinding halt.

Kidman plays Erin Bell, an alcoholic detective who is haunted by her past. The audience’s first glimpse of her comes when she visits a crime scene where the corpse of a John Doe, riddled with bullets, lies crumpled in a gutter. Bell, smarting from a massive hangover, notices the tattoo on the back of the victim’s neck and an ink-stained pile of money scattered near the body. These details bring back painful memories of a botched assignment from years earlier. As a young cop, she went deep undercover with her partner and lover to infiltrate a gang of bank robbers led by a murderous and sociopathic man named Silas (Toby Kebbell). Back in the present, Bell receives an envelope with more of the stained money — an ominous package, marking her as a target. She suspects that Silas, who disappeared without a trace 15 years ago, has returned to settle old scores.

Bell is a walking shadow. She drowns herself in alcohol, bullies informants, lies to her superiors, and sleepwalks through the motions of her day. She tries to be a parent to her teenage daughter, but the bridge between them burned a long time ago. But the return of Silas, the man she blames for her present sordid condition, drives her to pull it together enough to stagger her way through a one-woman odyssey of revenge. Her partner Antonio (Shamier Anderson, in a virtually nonexistent role) offers to help but she shuts him out, determined to go it alone.

Kusama doesn’t steer this set-up in the action-oriented direction of a film like 2018’s Jennifer Garner vehicle the film is instead grounded in a depressive aura of realism. But does offer some tense and disturbing scenes of brutal violence, including the past incident that’s mired Bell in a fog of dysfunctional anger and guilt. All of these scenes — particularly a shootout during a bank heist — provide some pulse-pounding moments. However, when gets around to showing us the event that changed this character, it isn’t so much shocking as it is expected and long overdue.

But why not put that all out front and focus on Bell in the present? A nifty little twist late in the story provides a welcome resolution to some unanswered plot points, not the least of which is why Bell wasn’t upfront about Silas’ return with her superiors to begin with. This late development also gives us more of a glimpse into just how deeply she’s been affected by trauma.

Kidman is a tour de force in the film. No doubt her performance will draw comparisons to Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning turn in In her own twisted estimation, Bell’s vengeance is righteous and just. It’s a credit to Kidman that she can inspire sympathy for an unlikable character, one who has none for herself. It’s too bad it wasn’t delivered in a tighter package. — Michael Abatemarco