As soon as I saw its chilling trailer, I was drawn to Child 44 by a pretty impressive cast – led by the always terrific Tom Hardy.
As it turns out, that cast – despite a few dodgy attempts at Russian accents across the board – are indeed the main redeeming factor of a film that, sadly, never really got itself out of second gear.
Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) is joined by Noomi Rapace (Prometheus), Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight trilogy), Joel Kinnaman (Run All Night) and Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) in this Stalin-era crime-thriller, which is a big screen adaptation of the Rob Smith novel.
The film – and indeed book – is based on the real-life crimes of Andrei Chikatilo, also known as the Rostov Ripper, the Butcher of Rostov and the Red Ripper, who was convicted of and executed for 52 murders in the Soviet Union.
That being said, it doesn’t follow events exactly, so don’t expect true events to get in the way of the actual story being told here.
The story follows Leo Demidov (Hardy), a high-ranking MGB agent who sees his life turned upside down when he refuses to denounce his wife Raisa (Rapace) as a traitor.
The pair find themselves exiled to the grim town of Volsk, which is referred to as the “rear-end” of the nation by Leo’s chief rivals Vasili (Kinnaman).
While there, Leo comes across General Mikhail Nesterov (Oldman) – and the pair realise that there’s a serial killer, with 44 child victims to his name, on the loose.
The catch is, the people of 1953 Russia live by the ideal that there’s “no murder in paradise”, so nobody is willing, or able, to look into the horrific crimes. As a result, all 44 murders are put down to differing accidents.
With their lives on the line regardless, Leo, Raisa and Mikhail decide that enough is enough – and the rest of the plot goes from there.
As mentioned above, the cast on show here is top notch. Hardy is, as ever, the stand-out performer – and probably has the best Russian accent on show. His scenes with Rapace are among the best, with their dynamic one of the more interesting elements to the film.
Kinnaman is solid as a pretty generic bad guy, while Oldman steals the few scenes that he’s in. That’s right, he’s got a surprisingly small role here, as has Clarke. The latter does play a pretty prominent character, but it’s a shame we don’t get more time with him.
Sadly, the story doesn’t quite live up to the individual performances. It seemed to drag on quite a long time in the cinema – and at 137 minutes there was neither enough action nor suspense to keep me 100 per cent invested.
Child 44 also lacks that “who dunnit” factor, with the killer revealed a little too early for my liking. That meant there was no real twist or pay-off moment, with Leo always feeling two steps behind the audience.
It’s hard to call this Daniel Espinosa-directed thriller bad, but I also couldn’t describe it as good either. That’s not to say that string of fine individual performances don’t make this worth a watch, though.
Voice Verdict: 6.5/10 (reviewed at Boston West End Cinema)
+ Very good cast that delivers
– Too long
– Lack of suspense is disappointing
Showtimes at West End Cinema, Boston (Fri, April 24 to Thurs, April 30)
Box office: 01205 363634
Web: www.westendcinema.co.uk/SavoyBoston
**AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON 3D (12A)
10am (Sat/Sun), 1pm (Fri/Sat/Sun/Wed), 4.20pm (daily), 8pm (daily)
**AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON 2D (12A)
11.15am (Sat/Sun/Wed), 2.30pm (Fri/Sat/Sun/Wed), 6.30pm (daily)
CHILD 44 (15)
8.20pm (daily)
A LITTLE CHAOS (12A)
2pm (Fri/Wed), 8.45pm (daily)
FAST & FURIOUS 7
2.20pm (Fri/Sat/Sun/Wed), 5.20pm (daily), 8.20pm (daily)
CINDERELLA (U)
12.30pm (Sat/Sun), 3pm (Fri/Sat/Sun/Wed), 5.45pm (daily)
SPONGEBOB: A SPONGE OUT OF WATER 2D (U)
10am (Sat/Sun), 12.10pm (Sat/Sun)
HOME 3D (U)
2.30pm (Sat/Sun), 4.35pm (daily), 6.40pm (daily)
HOME 2D (U)
10am (Sat/Sun), 12.20pm (Sat)
KIDS CLUB
Sat/Sun 10.30am –Alexander and the Terrible,Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (U)
SILVER SCREEN
Wed 11.30am – The Water Diviner (15)
**denotes free list suspended
