The last time Nicole Kidman wore this much prosthetic make up she won a Best Actress Oscar. “Destroyer” sees her almost unrecognizable except for her unmistakable movie-star jaw line in silhouette.
Kidman plays Erin Bell, a police detective ground down by years on the job, booze and the haunting memory of a case going wrong. When we first meet her she’s on the scene of a crime. When she spots a familiar tattoo on the victim she realizes a former adversary is back in town. It’s Silas (Toby Kebbell), a mini-Manson who controls his people through intimidation and drugs. “He’s either cleaning up,” she says, “or restarting again.“
To get to the bottom of the latest murder she begins an investigation that forces her to confront her behaviour on a long ago undercover case. The case puts her at odds with her estranged daughter (Jade Pettyjohn) and draws her down a path populated by increasingly sleazy characters including a crooked lawyer (Bradley Whitford) who tells her she is sad and stupid for revisiting the past and Petra (Tatiana Maslany), a drug addict and direct link to Silas. It’s dangerous territory, but she is undaunted. “I don’t care what happens to me,” she says. Eventually the past, told through flashbacks, catches up with the present filling in the details of how Erin ended up where she is today.
At the heart of “Destroyer” is a complex moral question, Can you ever really pay for the sins of your past? It mostly goes unanswered, although her actions hint at some sort of uneasy resolution. In the end it is obvious that while she may be trying to do the right thing, it seems likely she’ll end up in a bad way.
Kidman is in full-blown anti-heroine mode. You can practically smell the stale breath; feel her pounding hangover headaches. She’s in rough shape, the result of a lifetime of bad decisions. Kidman does a Herculean job of brushing aside any likable traits in Erin and adds a few interesting flourishes as she paints the portrait of this troubled woman but overall the result is mostly a paint by numbers picture you’ve seen before in other hard boiled crime dramas.
“Destroyer” is a gritty drama that, despite Kidman’s makeup, doesn’t change the complexion of similar stories in other movies.
Richard joins CP24 anchor Nathan Downer to have a look at the weekend’s new movies including Nicole Kidman times two – in the gritty cop drama “Destroyer” and the dramedy “The Upside,” where she co-stars with Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart – Carey Mulligan in “Wildlife” and the psychological thriller “Escape Room.”
Richard sits in with CTV NewsChannel anchor Marcia MacMillan to have a look at the weekend’s big releases including the Nicole Kidman cop drama “Destroyer,” the Bryan Cranston-Kevin Hart dramedy “The Upside” and “Wildlife” with Carey Mulligan.
A weekly feature from from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest movies! This week Richard looks at two Nicole Kidman movies, the gritty cop drama “Destroyer” and the dramedy “The Upside,” where she co-stars with Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart. Then it’s on to Carey Mulligan in “Wildlife.”
Richard and CFRA Ottawa morning show host Bill Carroll have a look at Nicole Kidman in the gritty cop drama “Destroyer” and the dramedy “The Upside,” where she co-stars with Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart. Then it’s on to Carey Mulligan in “Wildlife” and the psychological thriller “Escape Room.”
’Tis the season to cozy up with the bucket of popcorn and a great film. Richard joins “The Marilyn Denis Show,” Canada’s number one rated mid-morning show to talk about the must-see holiday movie releases.
To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, if you want to test a person’s character, give them power. That maxim is fully on display in “The Favourite,” an Oscar hopeful starring Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, as two women vie for the attention of Anne, Queen of Great Britain.
Vox Lux: December 14
In the psychological thriller Black Swan Natalie Portman played Nina, a “beautiful, fearful and fragile” ballerina who dreamt of dancing the lead in Swan Lake. She won an Academy Award for her work in that film and hopes lightening strikes twice with the release of Vox Lux, a musical drama about a drug addled pop star whose fame is built around a trauma suffered as a teen. The Hollywood reporter said her raw performance could “buy it a ticket into the Oscar race.”
Welcome to Marwen: December 21
Steve Carell stars as Mark Hogancamp, a real-life artist who suffered brain damage after being assaulted by five men in 2000. With little memory of his life, he reinvents himself in dioramas as a World War II hero backed by a cadre of female commandos.
Destroyer: December 25
Kidman plays Erin Bell, a police detective ground down by years on the job, booze and the haunting memory of a case going wrong.
The last time Nicole Kidman slathered her face in heavy theatrical make-up she won an Academy Award. To play Virginia Woolf in The Hours she wore a fake nose to look more like the novelist. The second time could be a charm. In her new film Destroyer she once again dons a layer of greasepaint to play a troubled detective embroiled in a life-or-death case. Despite the time intensive process—it took three hours to do her make-up for The Hours—Kidman says she liked it. “I did enjoy being anonymous,” she said. “It was fun to be able to go out of my trailer and not have anyone know me.”
If Beale Street Could Talk: December 25
A woman in Harlem desperately scrambles to prove her fiancé innocent of a crime while carrying their first child.
Based on a well-loved James Baldwin novel, “If Beale Street Could Talk” is a story of love in the face of injustice. Director Barry Jenkins, in his follow-up to the Oscar winning “Moonlight,” has crafted a stately film that takes us inside the relationship at the heart of the story and the heartlessness that threatens to rip it apart.
The last time Nicole Kidman wore this much prosthetic make up she won a Best Actress Oscar. “Destroyer” sees her almost unrecognizable except for her unmistakable movie-star jaw line in silhouette.
