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A review by lilith_knight
Victor Lavalle's Destroyer, Volume 1 by Victor LaValle
2.0
2.5*
I feel bad for rating this story so low, as it definitely has some great ideas behind it and it comments on a lot of important social issues, but the actual execution was not the best.
While the concept of Destroyer sounded amazing and the art was fantastic, the story didn't seem to know where it wanted to go. It tries to merge social commentary, a Frankenstein retelling, a vengeance story of a grieving mother and a coming of age story of a semi-artificial boy into one, tackling also themes like grief, parenthood, police brutality and systemic racism, the destruction of the environment, animal cruelty and the ethos of artificial intelligence. While all these themes are important in their own right, the story didn't give them the time or space to grow, resulting in a commentary that never broke surface level. Instead of forming a coherent storyline that balanced well between character development and the exploration of its themes, the plot was reduced to just travelling where the social commentary needed it to be. Unfortunately, in a mere 130 pages this only resulted in a story that seemed fragmented and unfocused. Everything seemed a little bit on the nose, and the ending felt rushed.
The narrative style didn't help either. Even though I kind of understood what the stylistic choice of an 'indie film' (for lack of a better term) narrative tried to do, I didn't think it translated well on paper, where everything is so static, and instead felt confusing.
Destroyer had a very interesting concept and an ambitious plotline, that was severely downgraded by its length, ending up looking hectic. I wish it had focused more on a couple of themes so it could delve deeper and develop its characters accordingly. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me.
I feel bad for rating this story so low, as it definitely has some great ideas behind it and it comments on a lot of important social issues, but the actual execution was not the best.
While the concept of Destroyer sounded amazing and the art was fantastic, the story didn't seem to know where it wanted to go. It tries to merge social commentary, a Frankenstein retelling, a vengeance story of a grieving mother and a coming of age story of a semi-artificial boy into one, tackling also themes like grief, parenthood, police brutality and systemic racism, the destruction of the environment, animal cruelty and the ethos of artificial intelligence. While all these themes are important in their own right, the story didn't give them the time or space to grow, resulting in a commentary that never broke surface level. Instead of forming a coherent storyline that balanced well between character development and the exploration of its themes, the plot was reduced to just travelling where the social commentary needed it to be. Unfortunately, in a mere 130 pages this only resulted in a story that seemed fragmented and unfocused. Everything seemed a little bit on the nose, and the ending felt rushed.
The narrative style didn't help either. Even though I kind of understood what the stylistic choice of an 'indie film' (for lack of a better term) narrative tried to do, I didn't think it translated well on paper, where everything is so static, and instead felt confusing.
Destroyer had a very interesting concept and an ambitious plotline, that was severely downgraded by its length, ending up looking hectic. I wish it had focused more on a couple of themes so it could delve deeper and develop its characters accordingly. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me.