''Destroyer'' is a 2018 American
neo-noir
Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...
crime drama film
Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but al ...
directed by
Karyn Kusama
Karyn Kiyoko Kusama (born March 21, 1968) is an American filmmaker. She made her feature directorial debut with the sports drama film ''Girlfight'' (2000), for which she won Best Director and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival an ...
, written and co-produced by
Phil Hay and
Matt Manfredi, and starring
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...
with
Toby Kebbell,
Tatiana Maslany,
Scoot McNairy,
Bradley Whitford
Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in the NBC television political drama ''The West Wing'' (1999–2006), for which he ...
, and
Sebastian Stan. The film follows a former undercover police officer (Kidman), who takes revenge against members of a gang, years after her case was blown.
The film had its world premiere at the
Telluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado, during Labor Day, Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 51st Telluride Film Festival, 51st edition took place on August 30–September ...
on August 31, 2018, and was released in the United States on December 25, 2018, by
Annapurna Pictures. It received generally positive response from critics, who mainly praised Kidman's performance, but was a box-office disappointment, grossing $5.6 million on a $9–12.4 million budget. At the
76th Golden Globe Awards, Kidman was nominated for
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama.
Plot
LAPD
The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...
detective Erin Bell arrives on the scene of a
John Doe
John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used in the British, Canadian, and American legal systems, when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law ...
murder and informs the responding officers that she knows the identity of the murderer.
At the police station, Erin receives an unmarked envelope with a $100 bill stained from a
dye pack. Using a contact at the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
, she confirms that the bill is from a bank robbery committed by a California gang 16 years prior that her former partner, FBI agent Chris, and she were embedded in as undercover officers. She tells her superiors that she believes the bill to be proof that the gang's leader, Silas, is once again active.
Erin works her way through the remaining members of the gang to find Silas. She begins with Toby, who was in prison, but is now gravely ill and living with his mother on
compassionate release
Compassionate release is a process by which inmates in criminal justice systems may be eligible for immediate early release on grounds of "particularly extraordinary or compelling circumstances which could not reasonably have been foreseen by t ...
. She gives him a
handjob
A handjob (also spelled hand job) is a manual sex act involving a person stimulating the penis or scrotum of another by using the hand. This is done to induce an erection for sexual pleasure, sexual arousal and may result in orgasm and ejaculat ...
in exchange for the location of Arturo, a member of the gang atoning for his past crimes by offering ''
pro bono
( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...
'' legal services to immigrants. Arturo provides Erin with the location of Dennis DiFranco, a lawyer who launders the multimillion-dollar haul from the original robbery and from whom Erin deduces that Silas is active again because the money from that heist is almost gone. After Erin thrashes him, DiFranco gives her the location of the next money drop, which is performed by Silas' girlfriend Petra, who has developed a severe drug addiction. Erin tracks Petra, eventually intervening in a bank robbery committed by Silas' new gang. Petra and she brutally injure each other in a fight, ending with Erin abducting Petra.
Flashbacks reveal that Erin and Chris developed a romantic relationship while undercover, with Erin eventually becoming pregnant, later having their daughter, Shelby. At Erin's behest, they decided to become legitimate participants in a bank robbery and planned to take their shares of the heist, report to their superiors that they lost contact with the gang, and eventually quit the force. The robbery was botched when a dye pack exploded in one of the bags, and Silas killed the bank teller who accidentally placed it. When Chris attempted to intervene, he was shot and killed by Silas. Erin, in favor of her unborn daughter, did not interfere in Chris' fatal shooting instead fleed the scene with the other robbers. After crashing the van against a dumpster and seriously injuring Toby, Erin hid her share of the heist and returned to policing, disclosing neither her original plan nor her share of the heist. Subsequently Erin breaks under the guilt of the choice she made, in the years to come turns to drinking and medication, unable to locate the anger she feels towards her daughter who's safety she chose over that of Chris, her father, back at that moment.
In the present, Erin visits Ethan, Shelby's adoptive father, and later talks with Shelby. Erin visits a
self storage
Self storage (a shorthand for "self-service storage") is an industry that renting, rents storage space (such as rooms, lockers, Shipping container, shipping containers, and/or outdoor space), also known as "storage units," to tenants, usuall ...
unit to retrieve her $300,000+ share of the stolen money, but finds that all but $11,000 is stained with dye. Silas sends a text message to Petra's phone, instructing her to meet him at the Bowtie Park, where Erin confronts and shoots him, avenging Chris. She returns the next morning to find the police investigating the crime scene, the John Doe murder investigation depicted in the first scene of the film. With Silas dead, Erin gives evidence of her guiltwhere he can find Petra, a stained bill, and the key to her storage unitto her partner, Antonio. Erin has been bleeding internally for hours, from injuries she sustained during a beating by DiFranco's bodyguard and in her fight with Petra, and she dies while sitting in her car. Meanwhile we learn that Erin finally is able to make peace with her daughter redeeming her from the years-long falsely allocated 'guilt' of her father's death.
Cast
Production
In August 2017, Nicole Kidman entered into talks to star in the film with
Karyn Kusama
Karyn Kiyoko Kusama (born March 21, 1968) is an American filmmaker. She made her feature directorial debut with the sports drama film ''Girlfight'' (2000), for which she won Best Director and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival an ...
directing, with the casting confirmed in October. Rocket Science helped arrange the financing and is representing international sales.
In November, Tatiana Maslany, Sebastian Stan, Bradley Whitford, Toby Kebbell, and Scoot McNairy were added to the cast, and filming commenced in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in early December, with the rest of the cast filled out with the additions of Beau Knapp, Jade Pettyjohn, Toby Huss, Zach Villa, and James Jordan.
Release
In May 2018,
Annapurna Pictures acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film for mid-seven figures at the
Marché du Film in an auction that also included
Amazon Studios and
Neon
Neon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is the second noble gas in the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with approximately two-thirds the density of ...
. It had its world premiere at the
Telluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado, during Labor Day, Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 51st Telluride Film Festival, 51st edition took place on August 30–September ...
on August 31, 2018. It was also screened at the
2018 Toronto International Film Festival, in the Platform program. It was also screened at
AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Lead ...
on November 13, 2018. It was released on December 25, 2018.
Reception
Box office
''Destroyer'' made $1.5 million in the United States, and $4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $5.5 million.
[
The film made $58,572 from three theaters in its opening weekend, a six-day total of $115,661.
]
Critical response
On review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''Destroyer''s grueling narrative is as uncompromising as Nicole Kidman's central performance, which adds extra layers to a challenging film that leaves a lingering impact." On Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Peter Debruge of ''Variety'' and Brooke Marine of ''W'' both found Kidman "unrecognizable" in the role and Debruge added, "she disappears into an entirely new skin, rearranging her insides to fit the character's tough hide", whereas Marine highlighted Kidman's method acting
Method acting, known as the Method, is a range of rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, understanding, and expe ...
.
Accolades
References
External links
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{{Annapurna Pictures
2018 films
2018 crime drama films
2010s police films
2010s English-language films
American films about revenge
American crime drama films
American gang films
2010s hood films
American neo-noir films
American nonlinear narrative films
American police detective films
Annapurna Pictures films
Films about the Los Angeles Police Department
Films about bank robbery
Films directed by Karyn Kusama
Films produced by Phil Hay (screenwriter)
Films produced by Matt Manfredi
Films scored by Theodore Shapiro
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films with screenplays by Phil Hay (screenwriter)
Films with screenplays by Matt Manfredi
2010s American films
English-language crime drama films