Based on the first of a trilogy by Tom Rob Smith and set in the Stalin era of the Soviet Union. During Stalin';;;s rule of the Soviet Union in the early 1950s, disgraced Ministry of State Security Agent Leo Demidov uncovers a strange and brutal series of child murders by a serial killer who everyone claims does not exist because it is Soviet doctrine that it is capitalism, not communism which creates serial killers. The state would not hear of the existence of a child murderer let alone a serial killer. He gets demoted and exiled but decides, with just the help of his wife, to continue pursuing the case.
28 August 1991, Marsdon Green, Birmingham, England, UK
21 September 1969, Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR
8 February 1944, Prague, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia
20 January 1967, Fife, Scotland, UK
18 September 1967, Cuckfield, Sussex, England, UK
28 December 1979, Hudiksvall, Gävleborgs län, Sweden
19 January 1966, Ostrava, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]
21 March 1958, New Cross, London, England, UK
15 September 1977, Hammersmith, London, England, UK
25 November 1979, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden
18 November 1975, Lidice, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]
21 November 1969
22 May 1973, Rødovre, Denmark
1 February 1978, Jilemnice, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]
May 11, 2017
Child 44 is bland in every aspect, which is a shame as the source novel could have been turned into an exciting movie if it had the right directorial hands to guide it (as well as a more eye catching title, Child 44 sounds pretty boring in name alone).April 17, 2015
Equally bloated and scatterbrained.April 16, 2015
"Child 44" is involving despite itself.April 19, 2015
The movie hints at a riveting story but is incapable of delivering it.April 16, 2015
[An] unrelentingly grim, plodding, and close-to-incoherent adaptation of Tom Rob Smith's best-selling mystery.March 07, 2016
Anchored by two strong lead performances, this film is nothing like the serial killer thriller the trailer suggests. In fact, it is nothing like what you think you are going to get.December 02, 2015
It's rare that a movie more than two hours long is criticized for being too short, but there's just so much crammed in, and the speedy clip of events doesn't permit the audience to gain a deep empathy for anyone involved.April 02, 2016
Hardy and Rapace provide a solid emotional anchor as a couple brought together by fear and tightened by survival instinct.May 31, 2016
Everyone speaks in pidgin English with thick Russian accents, which reduces the flick to an unintentional farce.October 16, 2015
Once in a while comes that star-studded film to remind that even the best assemblage of thespians isn't enough to save the most underwhelming of films.April 18, 2015
Given these actors and the ravishing decrepitude of the locations and costumes and the lustrous cinematography of Oliver Wood, I found it more than watchable the whole way through.April 16, 2015
It's as tedious as a bottomless bowl of borscht.