6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A police detective reconnects with people from an undercover assignment in her distant past in order to make peace.
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Sebastian Stan, Scoot McNairyThriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Destroyer may strike some as having been designed expressly to deliver an Academy Award nomination to Nicole Kidman, since it follows in the time honored tradition of “de-glamming” a major film icon, dirtying her up on the outside while also offering a character who has plenty of internal warts (so to speak) as well. While Kidman didn’t capture an Oscar nod for whatever reason (the thinking may have been she already enough of those), Destroyer undeniably offers Kidman a really interesting role, that of a cop on a hunt for vengeance who may have more than a few skeletons in her closet. Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) is a wreck — that much is obvious from her rough appearance. But it also quickly becomes clear that Erin is suffering from some kind of emotional dysfunction as well, with a personal life in shambles and a relationship with a daughter named Jade (Shelby Pettyjohn) that could also arguably use a bit (a lot?) of improvement. Bell is the very model of a modern burnt out cop, with what amounts to a generous dose of post traumatic stress disorder stemming from a long ago assignment whose history is doled out interstitially here after a “current day” event appears to be linked to an undercover operation Bell was assigned to decades earlier.
Destroyer is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. While yet again the IMDb is virtually dataless with regard to the technical aspects of this shoot, I found this interesting interview with cinematographer Julie Kirkman where she references Arri Alexa Minis, and I'm assuming things were finished at a 2K DI. As can probably be made out in at least some of the screenshots accompanying this review, this has been tweaked to resemble traditional film, with a gritty appearance that perfectly matches some of the story elements and moral turpitude on display. Kind of ironically, the "present day" material, where Bell is literally one of the walking wounded, is often incredibly bright and sunny, to the point that some scenes look boosted, with a somewhat blanched palette (see screenshot 4). (Another interview with Kirkman I found had her overtly stating, "I planned to go for extreme blown out highlights.") The "past" moments, where Bell is ostensibly happier, are often quite dark and drab looking, and a lot of the interior scenes don't offer a wealth of detail, let alone shadow detail. Those moments, combined with others which are ironically better lit but kind of gauzy due to the light, can give selected moments of the film a fairly hazy appearance.
Destroyer offers a nicely energetic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that derives a lot of immersion from a really interesting score by Theodore Shapiro which emphasizes weird string techniques (I was reminded of the Bartok String Quartets), while also adding what sounded to me like electronic swells, often in lower registers. That, combined with some really forceful ambient environmental sounds in some urban settings, offer consistent surround activity. There are some fun panning effects (an early moment has a huge semi passing on an overpass while Bell sits in a car underneath), and there are some intermittent bursts of LFE courtesy of some more traditional action adventure elements. Dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly throughout on this very expressive and enjoyable track.
Destroyer is a fantastic character study, and if it arguably tries a bit too hard to offer a few "twists" with regard to its main character, that will probably strike a lot of fans as a small price to pay for such an intriguing story. Kidman is really an amazing presence in this film, and it's fun to see her go "full Bryan Mills" on some bad guy (and gal) types. Technical merits are solid, and Destroyer comes Recommended.
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