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Destroyer is a 2018 American independent neo-noir crime drama film directed by Karyn Kusama, written and co-produced by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, and starring Nicole Kidman with Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Scoot McNairy, Bradley Whitford, 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 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.
Contents
Plot
LAPD detective Erin Bell arrives on the scene of a John Doe murder and suggests to the responding officers that she knows the identity of the murderer.
At the police station, Erin receives an envelope with a $100 bill stained from a dye pack. An FBI contact confirms that the bill is from a bank robbery committed by a California gang 16 years prior that she and her former partner, FBI agent Chris, 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 had been in prison, but is now terminally ill and living with his mother on compassionate release. She gives him a handjob in exchange for the location of Arturo, a former gang member now offering pro bono legal services to immigrants. Arturo provides Erin with the location of Dennis DiFranco, a lawyer who launders the haul from the original robbery and from whom Erin deduces that Silas is active again because the money 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 drug addiction. Erin tracks Petra, eventually intervening in a bank robbery committed by Silas' new gang. Petra and she 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 becoming pregnant, later having their daughter, Shelby. At Erin's behest, they became actual 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, then eventually quit the force. The robbery was botched when a dye pack exploded and Silas killed the bank teller who had placed it. Chris attempted to intervene and was shot dead by Silas. Erin fled with Toby, not answering his questions if she was a cop. After silencing Toby by crashing the van, Erin hid her share of the heist and returned to policing. She turns to drinking.
In the present, Erin visits Ethan, Shelby's adoptive father, and later talks with Shelby. Erin visits a self storage 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 saying where to meet him. Erin confronts him and shoots him dead. She returns the next morning to find the police investigating the scene, the John Doe murder investigation depicted in the first scene of the film. With Silas dead, Erin gives evidence of her guilt – where he can find Petra, a stained bill, and the key to her storage unit – to her partner, Antonio. Erin has been bleeding internally from injuries she sustained during a beating by DiFranco's bodyguard and in her fight with Petra. As she sits in her car, a flashback shows her walking in the snow with a young Shelby on her back.
Production
In August 2017, Nicole Kidman entered into talks to star in the film with Karyn Kusama directing, with the casting confirmed in October. Rocket Science helped arrange the financing and 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 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. It had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival 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 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 Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 74% based on 270 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. 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, 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.