Destroyer

A police detective reconnects with people from an undercover assignment in her distant past in order to make peace.

But making peace with what, or whom?

Actually, I suspect she is making peace with herself and the choices she has made because here we have lovely Nicole transformed into what Hollywood thinks an alcoholic female cop with serious issues looks like. They may not be wrong but it does take a bit of getting used to, though Nicole’s acting is superb and you do become involved in her story pretty quickly.

So, as IMDb has helpfully pointed it, there is reconnecting taking place in the sense that the bad guy (Toby Kebbell) from the undercover op which went horribly wrong for Nicole and her partner (played by Sebastian Stan) is back in town having previously escaped justice and she wants to bring him down. In order to find out where he might be, she goes off the grid and starts hunting down other former members of the gang of bank robbers as well as anyone else who might have a clue. Those anyone elses include Bradley Whitford in another one of those borderline sleazy cameos that he does so well.

I love Bradley Whitford wholeheartedly.

Anyway, the story bowls along with regular flashbacks to what happened undercover and we see why Nicole might feel she wants redemption. There is a side plot with her daughter which doesn’t add much, to be honest, and there are some excellent action scenes. A couple of other reviewers have noted the influence of Michael Mann’s Heat which I think is fair.

It’s a solid revenge story which has some neat structural tricks that I didn’t see coming, though I probably should have, but I’m not cross about that. It has made me want to see more of Kusama’s work and that’s no bad thing – I really should be actively seeking out more women directors.

Watch this for Nicole’s performance.

Dazzling Details: Destroyer is directed by Karen Kusama, is one minute over 2 hours long and rated 15 for very strong language, strong violence and sex. There is also some drug use.