Destroyer

The ambitions of the main group, i.e., the director, screenwriters, and above all Nicole Kidman, were not exactly small, but I'm afraid that the viewer will only take away a memory of the actress's torn face, who has always been considered a sexy symbol of Hollywood and has no problem enhancing her appearance with the help of plastic surgeons. Here, in the interest of the role, she transformed into a human wreckage permanently soaked in alcohol and presumably supplied with some amphetamines. Destroyer is not a good film, as Karyn Kusama is only a very average director, who sinks the story by focusing on emotional sentiment and attempting a psychological delve into the characters' inner selves, for which she and ultimately the screenwriters do not have the strength. She put the final nail in the coffin of her project with her reluctance to edit. This film should have been at least, I emphasize at least, 20 minutes shorter. Overall impression: 55%. (15.02.2022)

Destroyer is a hundred minutes of watching an unlikable character(s) in extremely unlikable LA locations (without the atmosphere or mystery of Nightcrawler), and at the end the movie tries to explain the character’s wrecked state, give her a human dimension and surprise us with one formal plot detail, which doesn’t really salvage the boring viewing experience. (08.04.2019)

Nicole Kidman is great again, but the film is so ordinary and uninteresting that it's not enough. Action-wise, there is only one decent shootout in a bank and that's the end of it. Slow pace, no plot twist, only a solid actress in the lead role and that's not enough to make a good movie. Three stars with my eyes squinted for the perfect make up. 50% (19.03.2019)

Right at the outset, I have to praise Nicole Kidman’s performance. I was enjoying it for the full two hours. If the screenplay had been similarly great, I wouldn’t hesitate to give the film five stars. Well, it wasn’t the case. A great action-packed and suspenseful story alternated with slightly weaker moments that slowed down the pace, so it got a little boring sometimes. If the film had been twenty minutes shorter, the overall result would have been much better. I may have some quibbles, but it certainly wasn't a bad film, I just felt like it had more potential. 3*+ (03.08.2019)

Crime films in Kidman's filmography are not the best examples we can come across in her career. But purely as a raw crime drama, Destroyer is of course passable. Secret in Their Eyes may have already suggested that someone of Kidman's caliber simply doesn't need a crime drama, but so be it. In order to become an icon and a household name in the broadest sense of the word, a person has to ease up now and then and cover literally every genre. (04.10.2020)