'Destroyer' Trailer: Nicole Kidman's Past Comes Back To Haunt Her

Destroyer features Nicole Kidman like you've never seen her before. The brutal crime thriller from The Invitation director Karyn Kusama puts the actress through hell, with Kidman playing a severely damaged cop dealing with the fallout from her past actions. Also starring Sebastian Stan, Tatiana Maslany, Toby Kebbell and Bradley Whitford, Destroyer is one of the year's best films. Watch the Destroyer trailer below.

One of my favorite films at this year's Toronto International Film Festival was Destroyer, the latest from Karyn Kusama. A deft blend of crime thriller and character drama, Destroyer is tense, unrelenting and boasts one of Nicole Kidman's best performances. Kidman has reached that point in her career where it's almost cliche to point out what a great actress she is – but as you watch her in Destroyer, you understand why so many people hail her work. As I said in my review:

But really, for all of Destroyer's great features, this is Kidman's show. The actress has played dark and gritty characters before, but not quite like this. Erin is so terribly damaged that you often find yourself wondering how she's even functioning. This level of emotional and physical decline could've strayed into heavy-handedness, but Kidman never lets it get that far. She always knows how to play it; how to balance her rage and pain. A character as abrasive and violent as this could also easily alienate an audience  – yet we're sympathetic to Erin, precisely because Kidman can bring out the humanity in the part.

Kidman plays LAPD detective Erin Bell – a hard-drinking cop who is wounded both physically and emotionally. She's haunted by an event from her past involving an undercover operation gone terribly wrong. And now it looks like the mistakes of her past are catching up with the present. Plotwise, Destroyer is familiar to other crime thrillers – but we've never seen this type of movie with a female lead before. That angle, plus Kusama's brilliant direction, turn Destroyer into something fresh and exciting.

Destroyer opens December 25, 2018.

Sixteen years ago LAPD detective Erin Bell went undercover in the California desert to infiltrate a gang led by the terrifying Silas. When one of their brutal heists goes wrong, Erin's cover is blown and Silas escapes. But many years later he re-emerges, bolder and more dangerous than ever, with a plan for the mother of all bank heists. This time Erin is going to stop him.