Destroyer (2018)

There were times throughout Destroyer when I felt it was going over the top. But then it would find a way to ground me back into its story and I would be engrossed again. I'd vacillate between feeling things were too much (Kidman's make up, the 0-60 intensity of each scene) and getting taken over by the story's old fashioned crime story. By the end I was firmly in the enjoyed-it camp, with an ending that made the trip worth it.

Destroyer skates the edge of cliche and innovation. It has all the hallmarks of the genre and even embraces a certain amount of cliches as it tells a story that is a hard boiled woman at the edge of her rope on her journey of redemption. Yes she's let everyone down, made horrible choices, and is on a quest to right her wrongs... or is she? As she makes her way through her former associates, we learn more and more. Sure most of it is expected but director Kusama and star Kidman find a way to make it all feel fresher than it should.

And it all builds to a climax that redeems it all, not because it felt all that original or all that shocking, but because it made everything before it make sense. Kidman plays it all quite subtly and Kusama finds little ways to make her film striking. Neither gets all showy and I think that makes it all work every more, both playing it rather raw. So as I was leaving the film I found it sticking with me in a way I hadn't expected when I was watching it.

Destroyer
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sebastian Stan, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Bradley Whitford, Scoot McNairy
Director: Karyn Kusama
Writers: Phil Hay, Matt Madfredi