★★★★★
20 December 2018
A movie review of DESTROYER. |
“You chose to play cops and robbers, and you lost,” DiFranco (Bradley Whitford)
With this and WIDOWS (2018), cinema is reclaiming the crime thriller from television in spectacular fashion. From THE WIRE and BREAKING BAD to FARGO and TRUE DETECTIVE, it looked like movies were out for the count. A Rocky-style resurgence is under way this year in Hollywood. (The genre is alive and well on the international stage, e.g. THE YELLOW SEA (2010) from South Korea, GANGS OF WASSEPUR (2012) from India, and THE WORLD OF KANAKO (2014) from Japan.) What the excellent lawbreaking flicks have in common is laser focus. DESTROYER is lean and ambitious, with a sense of gut-tightening dread.
With this and WIDOWS (2018), cinema is reclaiming the crime thriller from television in spectacular fashion. From THE WIRE and BREAKING BAD to FARGO and TRUE DETECTIVE, it looked like movies were out for the count. A Rocky-style resurgence is under way this year in Hollywood. (The genre is alive and well on the international stage, e.g. THE YELLOW SEA (2010) from South Korea, GANGS OF WASSEPUR (2012) from India, and THE WORLD OF KANAKO (2014) from Japan.) What the excellent lawbreaking flicks have in common is laser focus. DESTROYER is lean and ambitious, with a sense of gut-tightening dread.
A barely recognisable Nicole Kidman eviscerates the screen as a broken LAPD detective hunting a bank robber. We first witness Erin Bell (Kidman) scraping herself out of a car. At the scene of a murder, she looks like a lifetime of hangovers has manifested that morning. Bell’s colleagues look on in revulsion. Awareness of the elegance of the lead will also have the audience wince at her appearance. One wonders immediately whether she is an addict. DESTROYER offers a chopped up narrative to delay our understanding of how Erin Bell descended into hell on earth. The non-linear storytelling keeps us glued as she cuts a swathe through the metropolis.
Kidman delivers her most searing performance. Bell is both disturbed and disturbing. Kidman’s acting is also highly physical. (Think Christian Bale in THE MACHINIST, but more.) She swings between the languid and violent. Searching for homicidal thief Silas (Toby Kebbell) feels like her last case, without being a cliché. The audience wonders how much more punishment Bell can take before giving up the ghost. Why this particular criminal is driving the narrative is teased out with aplomb.
Back in time, over a decade and a half previously, Bell is seen in her prime as a sheriff’s deputy undercover with FBI agent Chris (Sebastian Stan). They have fallen in love while infiltrating Silas’s gang. He has been on the authorities’ radar awhile. The FBI needs evidence to prosecute. Silas is shown to be conscienceless, and is meant to be scary. The only slight bum note is the antagonist is given too much screen time to be enigmatic, and too little screen time to be top-tier intimidating. (Contrast Daniel Kaluuya in WIDOWS.)
DESTROYER is not a trite tale of redemption. Sometimes some people do too many bad things to find peace. The ending made me want to rewind the film and watch it afresh. Skilful.