Review: Child 44

by Trevor Kirkendall

★

Everyone’s always after that next big book franchise. With so many successful book series turned into hit movies, studios are trying to jump on the next big thing. They’re wise to be looking at the teen and young adult novels, since those are the ones that seem to do so well. A series on the MGB in Stalin-era Soviet Union? That might be a little hard to sell. Such is the case with “Child 44," which is based on a the first novel in a series by Tom Rob Smith.

Rapidly rising star Tom Hardy stars a Leo Demidov, a Soviet war hero during World War II and member of the Soviet MGB (the Ministry for State Security, precursor of the more infamous KGB). During this Cold War era, the Soviet Union prided itself on having no crime within its Communist state. “There’s no murder in paradise,” they say quite often. Even with a serial killer on the loose, the state chooses to ignore it and not publicly address it. Yet day after day, dead boys appear along train tracks throughout the county, and they keep getting listed as accidental deaths.

Leo doesn't believe this, though; especially after the son of his friend Alexei (Fares Fares) is found dead. But no one in the state wants to admit that these deaths are because of murder. Meanwhile, Leo is told that his wife Raisa (Noomi Rapace) may be  a spy for the west. Leo has the opportunity to turn on her, but instead stands by her side. They’re run out of town by Leo’s protégé Vasili (Joel Kinnaman) and sent to the abysmal Volsk where he works alongside General Nesterov (Gary Oldman). There, Leo continues to track down the perpetrator of these grisly murders behind the back of the MGB’s ever-watchful eye and Nesterov, who doesn't want to have any part in this crazy investigation.

The overly dense plot of “Child 44” is probably much better served as prose rather than a film. To cut down all the details pertaining to the inner workings of the Soviet secret police and put it into a film that’s just shy of two-and-a-half hours is pretty much impossible. And given how poorly put together this film is, that point is proven correct. Could you imagine if each book in the popular “A Song of Ice and Fire” series was made into one movie?

There’s a lot wrong with “Child 44,” but the lack of regard toward the film’s direction is the most sinful. What is this film trying to be? At times it seems to want to be a serial killer procedural. Other times, it feels like an anti-Soviet film. That, of course, makes it feel horrendously outdated since the Soviet Union doesn't actually exist anymore. Director Daniel Espinosa (“Safe House”) doesn't seem to know the script is weighted down by dead weight. This may be a faithful adaptation of the novel, but I’m sure each and every scene didn't have to be in here like this. The film is way too long as it is. A few simple cuts here and there wouldn't have hurt.

Hardy’s Leo is the only positive thing worth mentioning, if you can get over his goofy Russian accent. The book no doubt provides an enormous amount of character development to this character. Being the exceptionally polished performer that he is, I’m sure Hardy read the novel and based his character around that rather than what was written in the script. He’s fine here and I have no problems with him; however, the supporting roles are so undefined that the actors have resorted to all the stereotypical clichés that infect so many other films. Especially Kinnaman, who parades around his co-stars with same arrogant strut he had on the TV series “The Killing,” coupled with an atrocious accent as well. Vasili is a flat character encompassing every cop-drama villain cliché imaginable. Just a little more attention to character development would have gone a long way. Again, I’m sure the novel addresses this, but the film does not.

“Child 44” could very well be a faithful page-to-screen adaptation, but the movie by itself can barely stand on its own. I’m sure something this complex would be better suited for a television season rather than a movie. If the goal was to appease the fans of the book with a faithful adaptation, then they may have accomplished the goal. But pandering to one small demographic like that isn't enough to build the foundation a film franchise. There are two more books in this series. If they do make them, maybe it will be a Netflix Original Series. That’s probably the best possible medium for a story like this. But this doesn't have any business being in a theater.