Movie · 2018 · Thriller, Crime, Drama, Action · 2h 1m · R · English
Curator score: 3.4/10 (34.3K ratings)
There's nothing to lose when you've already lost everything
Overview
When Erin Bell was a young cop, she was given an undercover assignment that ended badly and destroyed her life. Years later, she must face her demons in order to make peace with her past.
Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Sebastian Stan, Scoot McNairy, Bradley Whitford, Toby Huss, James Jordan, Jade Pettyjohn, Beau Knapp, Shamier Anderson, Zach Villa, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Colby French, Kelvin Han Yee, Doug Simpson, Kale Clauson, Jan Hoag, Peter Vasquez, Mickey O'Hagan
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A grim, bruised cop thriller driven by Nicole Kidman’s ferocious performance and a strong sense of emotional damage, but the film’s fractured structure and muted momentum keep it from fully landing. It’s worth it if you want a character study more than a propulsive crime story.
Best for
fans of dark, performance-led crime dramas
viewers who like antihero stories about guilt and self-destruction
people open to slow-burn neo-noir with a bleak mood
Nicole Kidman admirers
Skip if
you want a tight, twisty thriller with constant momentum
you dislike nonlinear storytelling or fragmented editing
you prefer clear emotional stakes and cleaner plotting
you’re looking for a crowd-pleasing action-crime movie
Overview
Destroyer is less interested in solving a crime than in excavating the wreckage left behind by one. Karyn Kusama stages the film as a hard, dusty descent into regret, with Nicole Kidman disappearing into a physically and emotionally battered cop who seems to have burned every bridge in her life.
Worth noting
The movie’s biggest asset is its lead performance, which is raw, committed, and often startlingly unsentimental. The atmosphere is strong too: sun-bleached, corrosive, and permanently on edge, with flashes of violence that feel ugly rather than cathartic.
Bottom line
But the film can also feel overextended and opaque, with a structure that blunts tension instead of building it. If the emotional damage at the center of the story hooks you, it’s compelling; if you need a cleaner thriller engine, it may feel like a slog.
Top Letterboxd reviews
willa (2★) · 636 likes
if we all come together we can one day get nicole kidman a wig budget more than $3.07
Eli Hayes (4.5★) · 400 likes
damn, y'all really made
me think that this wasn't
going to be good -- YIKES.
Chris Cabin (3.5★) · 238 likes
If you're looking frantically for a movie where Nicole Kidman gives the most hateful hand job in the history of the cinema, I've got good news.
adrian (2.5★) · 212 likes
Nobody is talking about Sebastian Stan.
As usual, minimal screen time, but he's magnetic as ever; his chemistry with Nicole Kidman: sizzling; his badass, brooding demeanour: a ticking time-bomb. Nicole is good, but we all know by now she doesn't need a silly wig/distracting makeup to bring a great performance.
If you're familiar with Kusama's eccentric résumé, this is the combo breaker; with Destroyer, she settles for a cop thriller (light on the thriller) that's slow and uninteresting.
Sadly, it's been done before and done better.
matt lynch (3★) · 199 likes
Are we certain this wasn't written and directed by Nic Pizzolatto?
1998 · Crime, Drama, Thriller · 2h 1m · R · Curator 8.0/10 (147.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, MGM Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A snowbound crime spiral about ordinary people making one bad choice after another and living with the rot.
Topics
neo-noir, crime drama, psychological thriller, bleak, slow burn, female antihero, undercover cop, gritty, 2010s, character study