'Destroyer' Trailer: Nicole Kidman Is A Cop On The Edge

A quick, intense Destroyer trailer has arrived just before the holidays. Karyn Kusama directs Nicole Kidman in this riveting, twisty thriller about a cop at the end of her rope trying to solve a crime while reconciling with her past. It's one of the year's best films, featuring Kidman giving a performance unlike any she's delivered before. Watch the Destroyer trailer below.

Destroyer is going to be a divisive movie – I know for a fact several critics were mixed on the movie. But I saw it at TIFF this year, and I'm here to tell you it's incredible – it'll be on my top 10 movies of 2018 for sure. A big part of the film's success is the direction from Karyn Kusama, who helmed the anxiety-inducing The Invitation and the underrated Jennifer's Body. But the number one factor in making Destroyer a success is the lead performance from Nicole Kidman as Detective Erin Bell. As I wrote in my review:

 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.

In Destroyer, Kidman's character is trying to solve a murder. While she looks into the case, she recollects on actions from her past, when she went undercover with her partner (Sebastian Stan) to infiltrate a gang. Things did not go according to plan. This easily could've been a generic crime thriller, but Kusama's direction, Kidman's performance, and the clever script from Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, elevate it into a whole new level.

Destroyer, starring Nicole Kidman, Sebastian Stan, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Bradley Whitford, Jade Pettyjohn, and Scoot McNairy, opens in select cities on December 25, 2018.

Destroyer follows the moral and existential odyssey of LAPD detective Erin Bell who, as a young cop, was placed undercover with a gang in the California desert with tragic results. When the leader of that gang re-emerges many years later, she must work her way back through the remaining members and into her own history with them to finally reckon with the demons that destroyed her past.