Movie Review: Destroyer (2018)

Official Trailer: NOW IN THEATERS!! - including The Alamo Drafthouse.

Rated: R | 121 mins | Crime/Thriller

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sebastian Stan, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Bradley Whitford, Jade Pettyjohn, and Scoot McNairy.

Director: Karyn Kusama

How the movie is described from professional websites: "Destroyer follows the moral and existential odyssey of LAPD detective Erin Bell 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." - Empire Theater UK

My Review:

★★☆☆ out of 4 stars.

Well. I will say I had different expectations about this film before going to see it. By that I mean, the storyline, characters and how it would eventually end. I think this will be the last time I do that!

Sebastian Stan (left) and Nicole Kidman (right) [Credit photo: Just Jared]

This film reminded me of the female version of Liam Neeson's TAKEN franchise. I do not knock at all...well.. In some ways I do. Do not get me wrong, I still buy my ticket to see his films... knowing it is a disaster. That is how I feel with this film. I hate to admit that, but this is an honest review. My review. NOT based off of another person's voice.

I found myself dozing off in and out of scenes. I could NOT keep my eyes open for some parts. Thank goodness for some popcorn, or else I would have been like the old lady next to me, flat out snoring. I felt this film moved rather slow in the beginning as soon as I thought, 'okay.. This is the good part.. Right?..' I was let down. Over and over again. And the dialogue lacked my attention to really want to stick with the story. The characters in the movie were the typical drug dealing group of suspects. They live on the wrong side of town, they bully each other, drink a lot, treated the women around them like sex workers, and then we had the main character, Erin Bell (Kidman) sitting on the ripped old couch with a death stare, and widening her eyes towards her boyfriend, Chris (Stan), hoping they could leave already.

I want to make mention to my readers that I AM a fan of Sebastian Stan and Nicole Kidman. But this was not film lacked so much... why?

Kidman's character was a woman who felt she had made mistakes in her life and wanted revenge to the situation and/or persons, no matter the risks. I won't spoil anything or the ending... But, I guarantee you have seen plenty of films like this.

Often movies will show you the ending in the beginning of the film...which I do not mind. It has been done before but more often in action and thriller movies. This film did that but there was no words on the screen that helped the viewer understand what year it was, when or where this took place, etc. The acting by Nicole Kidman was good, not spectacular and incredible that I was left speechless or mesmerized. No. I honestly do not understand the quotes on the poster below that says it was her best acting role she has done. I have not seen all of Kidman's films, but the ones I've seen have been not so good.

Here is the poster I'm talking about:

The top quote on this poster is from Variety. I do not understand how this film was .. "Compelling," "Tremendous," and "Mesmerising" ? No. Just No. First, Sebastian Stan was in the film.. Yes. But if I were to take the entire 121 minute film.. I'd say he was in it for no more than 21 mins of the film. I wanted more of his character. I understand he was not top billed in this film, Nicole Kidman was, but his character deserved more than what was shown. I wanted more of KIDMAN'S character. It left me so frustrated, I was rooting for this movie! I also, did not find Stan and Kidman to have a connection. There was no chemistry that you would see with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper or Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. If there is no chemistry or sparks with the character the viewers will see that and not able to connect to the movie. For instance, I saw the Oscar nominated film, La La Land, that starred Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. It was not my type of movie. However, you could NOT deny the chemistry between both leads, Gosling and Stone. They are fantastic together. Like bread and butter.

I now understand why Destroyer was not nominated for an Oscar. I just did not see it as a contender against films like, Greenbook, RBG, or BlackKklansman. There were some mistakes in flashback scenes I just did not like. They made her look like a child in the earlier scenes, which I'm sure was done with camera tricks and/or using overdone Photoshop to her scenes... If you needed to make her SO young.. Find a new character to play this role. I was rooting for her character the entire film to be fulfilled with her job and life. It was a typical storyline for an actress who did not deserve a script to be so cliche and lackluster.

Leaving the theater I knew I needed a day to figure out what I loved about it. I suppose the one thing I loved was the makeup of Kidman's transformation, as shown in the photo below. You can see how drastic it was. She is a gorgeous, talented woman, and this character, Erin was not supposed to be beautiful, she was supposed to look worn out and tired and I felt they succeeded nicely.

Final Thoughts

In closing, do I recommend this film?

Hm. I wouldn't go out of your way to see it. No. It you are bored one weekend or have seen all the films nominated for an Academy Award... sure. See this film. But, movie tickets are costly... therefore, find a movie worthy of your time and hard earned cash. I gave this two stars, 1 star for Kidman's transformation, the other for horrible characters. I say horrible, because they made me angry, I sat there agreeing as why she did what she did. As a viewer, you were left with.. 'You get what you give.' and 'Karma is a B****'.

However, the tagline of the movie was... "You can't run from yourself." but the thing is... In a dark theater, watching THIS film, I wanted to run... Run to my car and head back home!