Demidov knows better. His transformation from committed Communist to compassionate citizen is Hardy’s gift to a film that rambles on but works well as a thriller while conveying the bleakness of life behind the Iron Curtain.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 21, 2024

A Kafka-esque condemnation of Stalin’s government ham-handedly plopped into a John le Carré spy thriller, Child 44 is ambiguous cinematic fluff.

| Aug 3, 2023

A unique and compelling procedural that I found satisfying even in its messiness.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2022

With its pointedly non-Slavic cast, Child 44 features an impressive roster of actors delivering muddled Russian accents, leaving us to wonder what Espinosa has against today's native Russian talents?

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jun 21, 2022

A good example of how to waste a cast with so many talented actors. [Full Review in Spanish]

| May 7, 2020

Despite several glaring issues, there's enough interesting stuff in Child 44 to merit your attention.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 10, 2019

Although the muddled, complicated subplots spin the film in too many directions to make Child 44 a truly successful adaptation of its source material, the allure of its leading performances are enough to make it worth a watch.

| Original Score: B- | May 10, 2019

The myriad plot strands never come together to make a cohesive whole; despite the best efforts of the impressive ensemble cast.

| Feb 26, 2019

It's sad to see such talent going to waste, not to mention what could have been a compelling and arresting tale, the result, however, is a flat, dreary and messy drama.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 22, 2018

... an anachronistic and failed proposal; worse: it sounds false and feels false. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/10 | Dec 13, 2017

You're left with the sense of a film attempting to say some ambitious things about a specific time in history and what a crushing totalitarian system can do to the human spirit, but the "thriller" part shrivels up along the way.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 22, 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).

| May 11, 2017

Everyone speaks in pidgin English with thick Russian accents, which reduces the flick to an unintentional farce.

| Original Score: C+ | May 31, 2016

Hardy and Rapace provide a solid emotional anchor as a couple brought together by fear and tightened by survival instinct.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 2, 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.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 7, 2016

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.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 2, 2015

Get past some contrived plotting - and the needlessly thick Russian accents adopted by the mostly British cast - and this 1950s-set crime thriller is grimly fascinating.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 23, 2015

It's all so mushy and unclear that by the time a climactic fight takes place in a literal mire you'll feel as muddied as the participants.

Full Review | Aug 17, 2015

A dark thriller that is as much about the deranged landscape as it is about a madman with 44 victims and counting.

| Original Score: B | Aug 14, 2015

What we do get is a revealing and no-holds-barred look at life behind the Iron Curtain. It busts the myth that the Russians, during the Cold war era, were emotionless propaganda machines.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 26, 2015