Destroyer

Crime thriller conventions and feminist film clichés fall by the wayside in director Karyn Kusama's exhilarating and emotional addition to the rogue-cop subgenre. Nicole Kidman is on commanding form as an unkempt, mad-as-hell LAPD officer startled out of her alcoholic stupor by the re-emergence of an old adversary (Toby Kebbell), while flashbacks document an undercover mission gone devastatingly awry. Physically ravaged and riddled with guilt - not least relating to her inadequacies as a mother - Kidman's detective operates with a suicidal recklessness that invariably explodes into violence, including a brazenly exciting heist. The flashy, hard-boiled dialogue is delivered by a high-calibre ensemble (including Tatiana Maslany, Scoot McNairy and Bradley Whitford), the action packs an almighty punch, yet the film works best as an unflinching character study, rendered in kaleidoscopic detail by its ever-fearless leading lady. Rather than just being content to tick all the usual boxes, Destroyer reveals itself to be the riveting story of a woman owning her own mistakes.