As a Nicole Kidman fan, I’ve been itching for Nicole to step out of her leggy-blonde and dowdy-mom roles for a long time. Karyn Kusama [Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation] has plunged Nicole into a role so different from anything she’s ever done before that you even forget you’re watching Nicole.

With a rich, dark and grimy backdrop of a blistering LA, we see Kidman play Detective Bell, a haggard and grizzly cop who discovers a crime that is inherently linked to her path. In a series of flashbacks, we see how young Bell was put into an under-cover operation she wasn’t prepared for to try and bust a drug/crime gang. Her partner in these flashbacks is played by Sebastian Stan, who comes into his own as an actor in this film.

As other reviews have noted, it is a crying shame that Destroyer has been so cruelly snubbed in the Director and Lead Actress sections of the Oscar’s this year. Kidman puts in a career best and the film is reminiscent of such late 60s/early 70s cop thrillers as Dirty Harry or Serpico.

Julie Kirkwood’s cinematography is brave and bold, reinventing scene fades and accentuating the blistering south-state heat.

If you haven’t seen Destroyer yet, do it! It’ll be one of the most exhilarating 120 mins of your year!

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