Nicole Kidman and Sebastian Stan Starred in One of the Grittiest, and Most Violent Thrillers of the 2010s

Nicole Kidman has never been more mean or rotten to the core than she is in Destroyer. One of the most acclaimed and decorated actors of our time, her career is filled with brave, groundbreaking performances. Kidman is currently on the awards circuit for yet another fearless turn in the erotic thriller Babygirldirected by Halina Rejinand also featuring Harris Dickinson. Back in 2018, Kidman once again teamed up with an independent female filmmaker, Karyn Kusama, for Destroyer, and they created another gender-breaking, boundary-pushing neo-noir thriller.

Violent and sensational, Kidman’s greatest scene partner in Destroyer is played by a sensitive and earnest Sebastian Stan. Also currently experiencing a surplus of nominations for both his performances in The Apprentice and A Different ManStan just took home the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for the latter. Never short of action or a sucker punch, Destroyer is a worthy modern neo-noir classic and takes the cake for being one of the grittiest of the 2010s. Kidman has never been more violentand though it failed to make a big mark when it debuted, there’s never been a better time than now for audiences to give it a try.

What Is ‘Destroyer’ About?

Erin Bell (Kidman) is one of the most downright mean antiheroes of our times, who, in the present day, is barely living. Instead, she’s burdened by the past, when she was undercover in a bank robbing gang 17 years prior and fell in love with her fellow undercover cop, Chris (Stan). Now a washed-up LAPD detective with a booze and pill addiction, she haunts the same streets, barely functioning and not even able to change her clothes. Then, one day, she stumbles across a murder investigation that bears a shocking resemblance to the gang she infiltrated all those years ago. Erin realizes this is a chance for vengeance, as the gang members reassemble once more to rob banks. Also dealing with her unruly daughter, Shelby (Exit Pettyjohn), Erin has a chaotic couple of days in L.A., hunting down former gang members, including Tatiana Maslany as Petra and Toby Kebbell as the vicious leader, Silas. Bradley Whitford, Scoot McNairyand Toby Huss also star.

Nicole Kidman Is a Drunk and Vicious Killer Hunting Bank Robbers

The greatest shot in Destroyer comes well over an hour into the film, where the action is only just beginning. Kidman’s bloodshot, watery eyes and haggard appearance are often captured in close-ups by director Kusama, to annunciate the rot of Erin we are witnessing in real time, both inside and out. With just two cops as backup as Erin tracks the resurrected bank robbers to a current heist in a bank, one of the cops hesitates, and Kidman spits, “This is a gunfight.” Kusama then shoots Kidman’s face in slow motion as she breaks open the bank’s doors, gun in hand, with eyes as wild as an animal. It’s here we get the true essence of her as a destroyer, and the film transforms for its second half.

From this point, Kidman performs a non-stop, grueling action performanceincluding a bloody brawl in an ice cream shop with co-star Maslany—Kidman wildly whipping a gun around and sucker-punching her while they wrestle on the ground. It’s absolutely Kidman’s most action-oriented role and one of her best, albeit underrated. Getting into several fights, the best one is where she flings herself at a man twice her size with nothing but a bar of soap in her hand and proceeds to beat him until he’s down. She makes Erin feeble and strong at once, with a limp and withering figure, but an anger that erupts when anyone crosses her.

‘Destroyer’ Is a Violent Neo-Noir That Defies Gender Norms

Destroyer follows a familiar story of a neo-noir, with a jaded detective haunted by their past and the death of a loved one. But this time, because the gender roles are flipped, Destroyer feels fresh. Stan’s character of Chris is one that would typically be the dead wife that haunts the tough male antihero in similar thrillers. It’s reminiscent of films like Interstellarwith the guilt Leonardo DiCaprio carries for the death of his wife (Marion Cotillard), or Guy Pearce‘s character in Memento. Kidman gets to harness the energy of all the great bad guys of our time that we can’t help but root for, like Robert De Niro or Al Pacino.

As the token symbol of good in the edgy film, Stan has always made daring career choices outside of Marvel, and it’s no different here. Kidman and Stan’s scenes are heartbreaking as we know he’s deadand though Stan’s character is just a minor role, their pairing adds a certain Bonnie and Clyde-like doomed charm to the film. Chris is Erin’s only proof of humanity outside her daughter, and Kidman embraces a masculine persona of bar brawls and shoot-outs that makes Erin one of her most liberated performances. She doesn’t have to be likable, beautiful, or nice. She’s destroyed her own soul and will destroy everyone else’s to get what she wants.

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Destroyer

Release Date

December 25, 2018

Runtime

123 minutes

Destroyer is available to rent or buy on Apple TV+

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