DESTROYER (2018)
Erin Bell is an LAPD detective who, as a young cop, was placed undercover with a gang in the California desert with tragic results. When the leader of that gang re-emerges many years later, she must work her way back through the remaining members and into her own history with them to finally reckon with the demons that destroyed her past.—
I was really looking forward to this one. I’m a fan of Nicole Kidman although her performances over time have been uneven. In this one, it seems like she’s trying a bit too hard and I couldn’t forget that she was acting. Kidman plays the main protagonist, Erin Bell, at two different ages. In the older age role, the makeup was distracting. While she looks like Kidman the makeup makes her look so damaged that it was intrusive. The story itself is reasonably intriguing and it’s directed well. The director has nicely moved between present and past and the story in both times is ok. The way the story is wrapped up at the end is a genuine surprise so, in that sense, DESTROYER was satisfying. But it unfolds at such a slow pace that I was relieved when it finished. The cinematography is very good. Overall, DESTROYER is ok, but I don’t think it lives up to the hype of the trailer and the accolades that the trailer included. But you have to give it to Nicole Kidman for making risky decisions in her career and taking on some very difficult roles. It’s worth seeing just to see how she handles this one. A very dark, humourless movie that takes patience to sit through.
