Nicole Kidman is a movie star.
Hey, I forgot, too.
For too long, the actress hasn't played to her strength: steely women who race through the Wild West, hold their own during the Civil War and persuade teenagers to commit murder.
Kidman rediscovers her true grit in "Hemingway & Gellhorn," playing Martha Gellhorn, a war correspondent who could belly up to the bar with Ernest Hemingway, which is a little like climbing into the ring with Mike Tyson and living to tell about it.
Kidman practically swaggers through the role, channeling Lauren Bacall to such a degree that I almost expected her to ask co-star Clive Owen if he knows how to whistle.
Hemingway is the more colorful and familiar figure, and Owen is just fine displaying the author's fire, especially when he challenges a Russian officer (an unbilled Robert Duvall) to a round of Russian roulette, simply because he asked Gellhorn to dance.
But this is a showcase for Kidman, her finest performance since 2003's "Cold Mountain." It's no small task to believe that such a beauty with porcelain skin and radiant red hair would be tough enough to ride a tank to get to the front lines or ignore a collapsing hotel as she ravishes her lover. But you never doubt that Kidman is up to the task.
A few more performances like this, and no one will need to remind you that she's a true star.
