Destroyer (2018, R)

Another movie that didn’t garner any Oscar nominations, despite some buzz to the contrary.  This film is a strong new addition to a well-worn genre, anchored by a strong central performance from Nicole Kidman.

Erin is a tenacious detective but a personal wreck, a hard drinker who struggles to keep it together at work and has difficulty navigating her fraught relationship with her troubled teen daughter.  When a reminder of an important, traumatic case from earlier in her career resurfaces, she’ll stop at nothing to retrace her steps and finally bag the criminal who got away all those years ago.

First off, I like the way the story rolls out, following Erin’s present-day investigation and interspersed with flashbacks of her fateful undercover assignment from 17 years ago.  Some characters we meet first in the present and then jump back in time, while others we see first in the flashbacks and then see again in the present day.  The events of the past inform the now, and we gradually learn of the mistakes and missteps from Erin’s younger days that drive her determination to finally finish what she got wrong all those years ago.

It’s worth noting that this is a story that, at its bare bones, has been made countless times before – “damaged detective hellbent on solving a deeply personal case” – but the damaged detective at the heart of that story is almost never a woman.  It’s great to see how complex and messed-up Erin is:  the rules she bends or breaks in her single-mindedness, the sloppy mistakes she makes because she’s drunk, the sins of her past she’s trying to make up for.  It’s nice to see a female character put through those same paces and allowed the same range of humanity as many a gritty male antihero before her.  Kidman does a fine job in the central role – she’s shrewd and hard-nosed, reckless and relentless, and deeply, deeply flawed.

Other notables in the cast include Sebastian Stan as Erin’s partner in the undercover flashbacks and the always-wonderful Tatiana Maslany as a key figure in Erin’s investigation, past and present.  Kidman and Stan play well off each other and both do a nice job with the added wrinkle of playing characters that are pretending to be someone else.  Meanwhile, Kidman, Maslany, and other cast members juggle the demands of playing characters at two different points in their lives, showing how the years have changed them.  We also get a couple of familiar faces from Halt and Catch Fire alumni, Toby Huss (Bos) and Scoot McNairy (Gordon.)

Warnings

Violence, sexual content, drinking/smoking/drug use, language, some gross moments (vomiting,) and strong thematic elements.