Child 44

The Ukranian orphan Leo is raised by a Russian family and becomes national hero during the World War II. In the 50's, Captain Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy), his best friend Alexei Andreyev (Fares Fares) and the coward Vasili Nikitin (Joel Kinnaman) join the Ministry of State Security (MGB) during the political regime of Stalin and Leo marries Raisa Demidov (Noomi Rapace). When Alexei's son is found murdered completely naked near the railway, the official explanation is that the boy was hit by a train since there is no murder in paradise since it is a capitalist disease. But Leo finds other similar cases and proceeds investigating, falling in disgrace with the Party. He loses his rank and is transferred with Raisa to Volsk to work with General Mikhail Nesterov (Gary Oldman). When a body of another boy is found near the railway in the same conditions of Alexei's son, Leo convinces Nesterov that there is a serial-killer and he agrees that Leo conducts a further investigation. Meanwhile the ambitious Vasili tries to persuade Raisa to leave Leo and move to Moscow to stay with him. What will happen to Leo and Raisa?

"Child 44" is a film with a promising storyline, great performances but not engaging. The political subplot is weird and raises the doubt whether it is true the premise that "there is no murder in paradise" or it is an anti-soviet propaganda as mentioned in the previous review. In a controlled political society by a dictatorship, it is expected low crime rates as consequence. But why not secretly investigate a serial-killer? My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Crimes Ocultos" ("Hidden Crimes")

Sort of confused about the massive chasm between ratings Seems you either love this movie or hate it. I thought it was good. Started off strong and had a reasonably strong story-line but got a bit lost midway through. Sort of seemed they needed to finish up the movie and just rushed it at the end like they lost track of time. Had potential to be much better but still considered it suitably entertaining.

Set in the Stalin era of the Soviet Union in the Fifties . Although it starts in 1945 with the conquest of the Berlin Parliament in which some soldiers raising the Russian flag . Some years later, horrible discovery of a maimed young boy near the railway tracks in Moscow is investigated by a suffered member (Tom Hardy) of the Russian military . After that, other killings occur here and there. The gruesome murders point to an invisible prowler who preys on the innocent children . However , the state would not hear of the existence of a child murderer let alone a serial killer . His thorny investigations and his suspicious wife (Naomi Rapace) accused to be a spy lead to his detention , as he disgraced police gets demoted and exiled on a remote location in Siberia. Nevertheless, he decides, with just the help of his spouse and to go on pursuing the case . He finds similarly strange deaths happen there , notably targeting the 'unthinkable' gay minority , and begins hunting for a serial murderer . How do you find a killer who doesn't exist? . Catch the killer. Expose the truth. How many more must die before the truth is exposed? . In a system where distrust is ever-present, what separates an accident from a killing ?.

Thrilling and chilling flick set in the Stalinist era , being based on the first of a trilogy by novelist Tom Rob Smith . In Child 44 there's a sharping depiction of the Stalinist society where people lived terrorized and chased , holding rigid and strict existence in which whatever unusual opinion and abnormal activity being relentlessly pursued and punished . The interesting plot deals with a police investigator decides to find out a series of child murders in a country where supposedly this sort of crime doesn't exist. Main and secondary cast are pretty good . Tom Hardy delivers a serious and nice acting as an idealistic pro-Stalin security officer whose life goes wrong , being demoted to the deputy chief of the local police, while his suffering wife is well played by Naomi Rapace . Support cast is frankly excellent , all of them giving splendind performances , such as : Paddy Considine , Jason Clarke , Vincent Cassell , Charles Dance , Tara Fitzgerald and special mention for Gary Oldman as General Mikhail Nesterov , while Joel Kinnaman and Fares Fares , Daniel Espinosa's regular actors, provide stunning interpretations , as well.

It contains a sensitive and memorable musical score by Jon Ekstrand . As well as evocative and adequate cinematography by the great cameraman Oliver Wood . Director Daniel Espinosa replaces a bit of bada-bing with class warfare in this thriller titled Child 44 (2015) . Daniel got big hit thanks to the international film ¨Snabba cash¨. As Espinosa earned critical acclaim and subsequently hired by Hollywood , where has directed other successful films as ¨Life¨ and the hit boxoffice ¨Safe house¨ with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. Rating : 7/10 . Better than average . The motion picture will appeal to historical thriller enthusiasts. Well worth watching.

'CHILD 44': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A mystery thriller film; starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and Gary Oldman. Hardy plays a security officer, that's investigating a child murderer, in 1950s (Stalin era) Soviet Union. The film was directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Richard Price; it's based on the novel, of the same name, by Tom Rob Smith (the first of a trilogy of books). It also costars Joel Kinnaman, Vincent Cassel and Jason Clarke. The movie was a bomb at the box office, and got mostly negative reviews from critics, but I enjoyed it.

Leo Demidov (Hardy) is a former war hero, that now works as an MGB agent, in the 1950s Soviet Union. He's a strong supporter of Stalin, and his country's ideals, but when a series of children start turning up dead, his loyalty is put to the test; being that murder is not supposed to exist there (it's believed to be only a capitalism crime). When his partner's son is killed, he refuses to go along with the government's cover-up (of the crime), and he's exiled; along with his wife (Rapace). Despite their treatment, Leo continues to pursue the killer, and justice.

The movie is well directed, written and full of great performances; especially Tom Hardy (my favorite male actor). Some people have a problem with the fact that the actors all speak English, in the film, but with Russian accents; that didn't bother me. I actually like the characters (especially Hardy's) and the insightful political commentary of those times; I found the movie to be quite involving as well. Maybe one of the main problems, with the film, is that the first cut was 5.5 hours long; and now it's less than 2.5 hours. It's a lot of story, and character development, crammed into one movie. The film is actually pretty fast paced too, it just doesn't quite come together right. I still enjoyed it though.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/5zwAFiaOqq4

The only reason I am writing are view is because some simpletons have actually given this 1 star, what kind of idiot thinks this is 1 star viewing? Do not believe these trolls, whilst I prefer films to be in the local language this does not detract from such a good movie. My only criticism is that the killers reasons are not explored enough and too much emphasis is on the central characters rather than the story line. Having said that, such strong performances easily rate this a 7. Gary Oldman is excellent as usual and Tom Hardy is the thinking persons go to actor, but Naomi in my humble opinion was the standout character and elevated the survival instinct interest inside the USSR to a believable level. Like Downfall,if a Russian version was available this would have made such stronger viewing but I am more than happy with what I saw.