Destroyer

Impressive movie. I liked it a lot. Nicole Kidman delivers a brilliant performance in a very dark and heavy tale of loss and revenge. Also the cinematography and the music were top-notch. Overall a very good movie but not a light watch.

This movie is so close to perfect, I was toying with the idea of scoring it a 10. That having been said, your enjoyment is going to be heavily impacted 1) by your expectations of the movie (I knew nothing going in, which was great) and 2) whether you like the kind of movie this is.

I'm not sure how it's possible to make a movie that's simultaneously nihilistic and optimistic, that glorifies righting past wrongs while putting the destructive effects of hate, revenge fuelled obsession right at its core.

It shouldn't work. But it works so well. There's a reason the movie is called Destroyer, and it begins to resonate in more and more ways as the dread of where the plot and our main character (hard to call her a protagonist) grows stronger and stronger.

I disagree strongly with the other commenters that this movie was too slow or too confusing. This movie is tight and perfectly constructed. There is not a single wasted shot in it. Every scene and camera move is intentional and helps reveal more of the world we're in.

There is a shootout towards the middle of the movie that isn't just a worthy homage to Heat, it's probably one of the best I've seen since that movie's release. The way Bell reacts under pressure, at first forgetting she has a patrol weapon in her boot, and then deals with the patrol cops who are first on scene waiting for her to take charge... it was hair raising it felt so real and tense.

In my opinion the only way you could see this movie as confusing is if you see all movies told in non-linear fashion to be confusing. To be honest, this is one of the simplest ways I've ever seen that device used and it works wonderfully.

I'd be remiss not to touch on Kidman's character, Detective Erin Bell, specifically. It is a stunning, tour de force performance with an insane level of commitment. Not once did I feel I was watching a movie starring Nicole Kidman. In fact I'm struggling to think of another recent movie where I bought into a character's inner and outer life this strongly. You hate her for what she has done to herself and her family. And yet you can't stop yourself from sympathizing with her and the harrowing turns her life took due to one disastrous decision early on in her career. Bell carries herself with such a physical weight and world weariness that you can't decide whether to punch her or hug her in a futile attempt to wake her up from her current state of barely existing.

This is one helluva movie that I can't wait to re-watch, but would not recommend to friends across the board. It's going to be very taste specific.

The story is okay - nothing particularly original - but what lifts this film is the powerhouse performance from Kidman and the fine creative talent behind the camera.

Well a good performance from Nicole Kidman and she played her role so good that I didn’t recognise her. Good film/script

A superb central performance and an impressive aesthetic design elevate a quotidian plot

Destroyer is an unashamedly pulpy genre piece, confrontationally ugly and unapologetically nihilistic. It's the kind of film one might imagine were we to follow Det. Mills (Brad Pitt) after he opened the box at the end of David Fincher's Se7en (1995), with crippling emotional trauma the protagonist's most salient characteristic. Of course, a damaged cop determined to settle one last score isn't exactly an original concept, and Destroyer never strays too far from the generic tropes. However, what it does bring to the table is that the archetypal "he" of such narratives is here a "she", with Kusama relying heavily on Nicole Kidman's startling warts-and-all performance to do most of the heavy lifting. Although the film does seem to be under the impression that it offers some portentous revelation about the nature of revenge and psychological torment, approaching every scene with an air of self-seriousness that can become grating, there are undeniably individual moments of great brilliance. And then there's that lead performance.

For my complete review, please visit: https://boxd.it/CSSu5

An average crime drama. I loved the twist at the end.

Nicole Kidman is exceptional. The supporting cast is very good (Tatiana Maslany is always brilliant), This screenplay has surprises (things are not always as we think). The tone is dark and weary but the stubborn determination of this detective keeps us with her every step and misstep. This is a good movie with a superb performance. I give the film a 7 (good) out of 10 and Nicole a 9 (superb). [Crime Drama]

I wanted to see what all the hype around Kidman's was about...and I'm not sure if I watched the same film as everyone else. There was not a single piece of scenery she didn't chew on. It was so labored and over-dramatic that it sometimes took me out of the film. The rest of this (quite illustrious) cast was fine, but no one was given more than a glorified cameo role. And the ridiculous wig they had Toby Kebbell...just...why? The storyline was fine, if a bit too straightforward (outside of the final revelation). I just wish this would have lived up to all the critical praise for it, but this really felt more like a straight to Netflix film instead of a prestige drama.

Good performance from Nicole Kidman but that's the highlight. Everything else is ok. The story is fine if not a little predictable. All the kid stuff could have been cut. I wanted more time undercover.

I was seriously considering throwing _The Destroyer_ a pity star and making it a 'recommend', despite the storyline lifted from a 70s cop show watered down with ridiculous family drama that sucked whatever excitement remained after the flashbacks were done smothering it.

But then the film wouldn't die, it just kept clinging on like a jilted teenager and, even worse, the twist ending was a cheap editing trick that made me burp a little vomit and not even the (arguably) best performance of Nicole Kidman's career could convince me to like this mess of a film after that.

What could've been an enjoyable hard-boiled detective film learned nothing from the faux gravitas of _Widows_, _Triple 9_ or _Den of Thieves_ and insisted on including 'serious' drama that was a serious drag on an over-edited movie.