It takes a lot of inner confidence to pull off what Karyn Kusama and Nicole Kidman have done with “Destroyer.” Here is the noir antihero that our current cinema has been longing for. The genre is traditionally an exclusive realm for steely male icons like Clint Eastwood or even Jamie Foxx in “Django Unchained” — but here’s a shatterproof hardcore woman hellbent on making things right once and for all.
When the film begins, Kidman’s Erin Bell is a wrecked woman, someone so repulsive to look at you have to turn away the moment she starts walking toward you. Part of that is the distinctive look the actress has adopted for the role: makeup and wig that makes her look like she’s slept in the desert in a sleeping bag, chewed on charcoal, and not taken a shower for two weeks.