Destroyer (2018)

Jack and I really liked this thriller about a dissolute Los Angeles detective reopening one of her old cases. Nicole Kidman is fabulous as the lead Erin Bell, with the body language of a hard life; her gray hair, red eyes, and cracked lips the exact opposite of her most recently blogged role in Boy Erased (in that one she was coiffed, manicured, and costumed to a T) or even her secretive soccer mom in the miniseries Big Little Lies. Her partner Chris is well played by Sebastian Stan (last blogged for Avengers: Infinity War). Speaking of hair, I liked his fade. I'm a big fan of Tatiana Maslany (most recently in Woman in Gold) who contributes as Petra. It's a big cast, and I won't go too deep, but Bradley Whitford's (last blogged for Get Out) cameo as an arrogant rich bastard is good fun. Scoot McNairy (most recently in these pages for Gone Girl and was also in all 40 episodes of Halt and Catch Fire) is good as Erin's ex-husband, as is Toby Huss (also in all of Halt and Catch Fire) as a friend on the force.

This is the third feature for director Karyn Kusama (helmed four episodes of Halt and Catch Fire and some other TV). She works from a script by writing partners Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (wrote Kusama's other two, Crazy/Beautiful (2001), and more). Kusama and Kidman have been nominated for a number of awards for this project, three of which are on my running list.

Some people have described this role for Kidman as "brave." It's my position that "brave" is code for female (mostly) actors allowing themselves to play unattractive characters. Isn't that what acting is all about??!!

The thrilling music is by Theodore Shapiro (last blogged for A Simple Favor) and can be streamed on Spotify and Apple Music. There are a bunch of songs, too, and you can listen to clips of some of them here.

MPMS, or Motion-Picture-Motion-Sickness sufferers may be occasionally stricken, so don't sit near the screen.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 71%, aren't big fans of this movie, though more than its audiences at 56%. Whatever. Jack and I think you should see it just for Kidman's performance.