Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Karyn Kusama, Lionsgate, MA, 121 Minutes.
At first it is difficult to recognise the raggedy Aussie actress Nicole Kidman playing the part of damaged detective Lt Erin Bell in her darkest role to date after seeing her portrayal of the refined Queen Atlanta in ‘Aquaman’.
As the movie opens, Bell appears in a dishevelled and drunken state at a murder scene where she is derided by police colleagues before detecting stained dollar notes near the dead body that is somehow connected to her past.
Then, in a flashback scene – one of many – an attractive Bell is seen with a blotchily-free face working with fellow cop Chris (Sebastian Stan –‘I, Tonya’) in an undercover operation that has infiltrated a criminal gang led by sociopath Silas (Toby Kebbell –‘Ben-Hur’).
Returning to the present time, Bell suspects Silas is responsible for this murder and for ruining her earlier life many years ago by going after him to get her revenge, including his gang of bank-robbing members.
In the midst of her vendetta, Bell has to deal with a personal problem – that of her estranged teenage daughter Shelby (Jade Pettyjohn –‘Girl Flu’) – besides seeking a degree of closure to the case that ended tragically 17 years earlier.
Bell realises that she can only achieve this by tracking down Silas through the remaining gang members but it is by finding Silas’s girlfriend Petra (Tatiana Maslany –‘Stronger’) that she finally comes face-to-face with Silas in a do-or-die confrontation.
After directing ‘The Invitation’, Kusama’s latest effort is a soul-destroying movie experience due to a complicated plot filled with too many back and forth flashbacks.
The saving grace is Kidman’s gritty performance in one of her most painfully difficult roles. Aside from the incoherent storyline it is the transformation of Kidman into an embittered person who is emotionally and physically drained that makes her incredible performance more compelling, but it is let down by a disjointed script.
Vic’s Verdict: 2 ½ Stars
