Kidman is terrific in Destroyer, one of the best recent cop/crime dramas

Nicole Kidman is headed toward an Oscar nomination and maybe a win for her terrific performance as an undercover LA police officer whose personal and professional life is a nadir, in Karyn Kusama's film Destroyer (2018). Kidman plays almost a double-role: In the main, present-day narrative she is Erin Bell,a police officer on the outs with her colleagues, seriously addicted to alcohol and possibly to opioids or other Rx, and she looks just terrible - a brave role for Kidman to take on, in my view. In essence, the film opens w/ her arriving at a crime scene where there's a dead body, victim of gunshot. Though out of her jurisdiction, Erin examines some clues and spots a tattoo that indicates the dead man's gang affiliation, a gang that Erin had investigated years back as an undercover agent. She wants to close the case and redeem her career insofar as possible. The movie from this point forward is bifurcated: Some in the present as Erin follows a series of leads that bring her by stages to the head of the gang, some 17 years back when she was an undercover member of the gang,and reliving a bank robbery the gang pulled off w/ tragic consequences. That said, the plot is intricate but extremely well designed, w/ great moments of tension and shocking narrative twists. This movie as about as engaging as any recent cop/crime film I can recall - not only Kidman's acting, but a strong supporting cast, terrific pacing that keeps the tension ratcheted to the top, and a great stylish look that any fans of LA noir will enjoy from the opening moments on - with the caveat, probably my only caveat, that the film could have ended 10 minutes earlier and cone to rest on a darker and more mysterious note and avoided some saccharine, over-orchestrated moments, the only ones in the film.