Film Review: De-Glamorizing Nicole Kidman Can’t Save ‘Destroyer’

Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2019 - 10:22am

CHICAGO – If you are in a particular frame of mind you can kinda see why someone thought “Destroyer” would be a good idea. It’s got an Academy Award winner, doing a physical transformation, and has a hard-boiled detective story. All of these elements in the right hands could have added up to awards show adulation.

Rating: 1.0/5.0

It’s an exercise in style over substance, where paradoxically the absence of glamor is the defining trait. But ugly does not automatically mean gritty especially if you don’t have anything interesting to say. And it’s only reason to exist is to allow Nicole Kidman to go to the glamorous-star-gets-ugly school of awards show acting. Kidman here stars as psychologically damaged detective Erin Bell, on the trail of a bank robbing gang with whom she had some history. She went deep undercover and is still trying to piece together her shattered life from that experience.

“Destroyer” opens in Chicago on January 11th, part of a nationwide release. See local listings for theaters and show times. Featuring Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Sebastian Stan and Bradley Whitford. Screenplay by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. Directed by Karen Kusama. Rated “R”