Taglines: You can’t run from yourself.
Destroyer movie storyline. LAPD detective Erin Bell arrives on the scene of a John Doe murder and informs the responding officers that she knows the victim’s identity. At her police station, Erin receives a $100 bill stained from a dye pack in an unmarked envelope. Using a contact at the FBI, she confirms that the bill is from a bank robbery committed by a California gang many years prior that she and her former partner Chris were embedded in as undercover officers. She tells her superiors that she believes the bill and the John Doe murder to be proof that the gang’s leader Silas is once again active.
Erin is forced to work her way through the remaining members of the gang in order to find Silas. She begins with Toby, who was arrested but is now gravely ill and living with his mother on compassionate release. She manually stimulates him in exchange for the location of Arturo, a member of the gang who attempts to atone for his past crimes by offering pro bono legal services to immigrants.
Arturo provides Erin with the location of DiFranco, a lawyer who launders the money from the original robbery and from whom Erin deduces that Silas is active again because the money from the heist is almost gone. After threatening him, DiFranco gives Erin the location of the next money hand-off, which is performed by Silas’ girlfriend Petra. Erin tracks Petra, eventually intervening in a bank robbery committed by Silas’ new gang, and kidnaps Petra.
Via flashbacks throughout the film, it transpires that Erin and Chris developed a romantic relationship while undercover, with Erin eventually becoming pregnant with Chris’ child. At Erin’s behest, they decided to become legitimate participants in the bank robbery and planned to take their shares of the heist, report to their superiors that they lost contact with the gang, and eventually quit the force. The robbery was botched when a dye pack exploded in one of the bags, and Silas killed the bank teller who placed it. When Chris attempted to intervene, he was shot and killed by Silas. Erin hid her share of the heist and returned to policing, disclosing neither her original plan nor her share of the heist.
Destroyer is a 2018 American crime drama film directed by Karyn Kusama, from a screenplay by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. It stars Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Scoot McNairy, Bradley Whitford, and Sebastian Stan, and follows an undercover LAPD officer who must take out members of a gang, years after her case was blown.
The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2018 and was released on December 25, 2018 by Annapurna Pictures. At the 76th Golden Globe Awards, Kidman was nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.
Destroyer (2018)
Directed by: Karyn Kusama
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Sebastian Stan, Scoot McNairy, Bradley Whitford, Toby Huss, James Jordan, Beau Knapp, Jade Pettyjohn, Natalia Cordova-Buckley
Screenplay by: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi
Production Design by: Kay Lee
Cinematography by: Julie Kirkwood
Film Editing by: Plummy Tucker
Costume Design by: Audrey Fisher
Set Decoration by: Lisa Son
Art Direction by: Eric Jihwan Jeon
Music by: Theodore Shapiro
MPAA Rating: R for language throughout, violence, some sexual content and brief drug use.
Distributed by: Annapurna Pictures
Release Date: December 25, 2018
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