Destroyer

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We are getting close to the end of the 2018 films. After this, I have one or two more I want to see. Then, I will be doing my end of the year review. When I do, where will this one go? Not in my top 10, unfortunately. But, not at the bottom, either. This was a good film, really decent, worth seeing, in fact. I just didn’t love it, and I don’t know exactly why. This is the story of a haunted woman, stripped raw by regret, and the journey of revenge she goes on in her attempt to find peace. But, this isn’t revenge-porn; if you are expecting “John Wick” or “Oldboy” or anything with Liam Neeson, you are just going to be disappointed. Director Karyn Kusama is doing something deeper here. Her lead character, Erin, is not ruthless. She wants to be ruthless, but she is more real than that. She stumbles through this story, leaking vulnerability and pain the entire time. Erin is played beautifully by Nicole Kidman, sporting a prosthetic nose that is far less distracting than the one she wore in “The Hours.” Kidman, who almost disappeared into this character, did so much work with her eyes. She looked haunted and worn out the entire time. The rest of the cast included Toby Kebbell (“Kong,” “War for the Planet of the Apes”), Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”), Sebastian Stan (all the various “Captain America” and “Avengers” movies), Scoot McNairy (“Halt and Catch Fire”), and Bradley Whitford. They all did a good job in their various roles, although Maslany deserves extra credit in her role as Petra. But, the film was Kidman’s film and she was the center of every scene. The story was also shot very effectively. It was not until the very end of the film that I realized how Kusama had stitched scenes together. That misdirection was intentional on her part and it made for an effective a-ha moment, where the audience is reinterpreting scenes they saw earlier. She seems to be a very deliberate and planned filmmaker. I will give you another example but this comes with a spoiler alert. If you have not seen the movie you may want to stop reading now. Early in the film, we are told that there was an incident “a long time ago” for which Erin wants revenge. A little later we meet her 16 year old daughter in a bar with an older guy. A bit later, we then here that this incident was about “two decades ago.” This is where it sits until later in the film, when we learn that the incident was exactly 17 years ago. We are then almost immediately reminded that her daughter is 16, and then we get the reveal that Erin got pregnant by her partner. Kusama very deliberately kept things vague, until she wanted the audience to put the clues together just in time for the reveal. That is very methodical and deliberate filmmaking. So, why didn’t I like it more? I am been struggling to try and explain, but I just think it was a bit heavy handed at times. The best example of this is in the final moments of the film, when we are given the scene of Erin and her daughter in the snow. I cannot image how much work it was to light that scene so that all the snow was glowing and had this magical feel. But why? I just felt like that scene was hammering a point home that had been made effectively enough already. There were just a few small moments like that. Trimmed of that and this film would have been tighter, more effective. It really is a small thing in a film that I really did like, but just didn’t love.