Though it’s been banned in Russia, the Child 44 movie adaptation made it to the big screen for the rest of the free thinking world this weekend (17th April 2015), but it doesn’t quite deliver enough impact to stack up against the book that it’s based upon. It’s not a bad film to watch, and Tom Hardy is very impressive in the lead role, but there are just too many little flaws that systematically erode the power of the movie’s stronger scenes.
It’s been adapted from the book of the same name by British author Tom Rob Smith (The Farm), and while it doesn’t steer too far away from the core storyline, it fails to pull everything together sufficiently, leaving you fixated on the slight negatives, which, for us, could have been avoided. It tells the story of MGB agent Leo Demidov, played by Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road), who finds his allegiances challenged in the face of disgrace and the appearance of a serial killer in a country convinced that there are no killers in paradise.
It makes for a very gritty situation with Leo and his wife Raisa, played by Noomi Rapace (The Drop), struggling through some pretty difficult circumstances, including the ever present state investigation and Leo getting leaned on by his superiors to cover up the murders. The visual delivery of the film adds to this sense of overwhelming oppression, but unfortunately not everything is as convincing as the excellent work of director of photography, Oliver Wood.
Apart from Hardy, who has clearly put a lot of work and research into the role, the casting doesn’t work well for Child 44. Characters appear far too British or American to come close to convincing you that you’re watching a brutal crime thriller set in the heart of mother Russia. Even when they are well rehearsed and skillfully crafted, as is the case by Noomi Rapace, they still slip occasionally, and then there are those that just sound half-hearted.
It was a bit disappointing to watch is all fall apart, as there are a number of big name actors who you would expect to really get under the skin of their Russian roles. Gary Oldman (Lawless) is watery and could easily be mistaken for Police Commissioner Gordon, Charles Dance sounds as British as strawberries and cream, Joel Kinnaman (RoboCop (2014)) may as well be playing a dastardly American Football quarter back, Vincent Cassel (Black Swan) seems incapable of shaking his Gallic countenance and Paddy Consadine (Macbeth (2015)), who plays the killer, sounds more like a British school teacher than a Russian murderer.
A part of the problem for us is that the casting appears to have been done by way of calling in people who’ve worked with each other in the past, instead of meticulously hunting for the right actor for the part. The fact that Hardy has worked with Noomi Rapace on The Drop; with Gary Oldman on Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy (2011), The Dark Knight Rises and Lawless; and with Jason Clarke also on Lawless, means that the film feels a bit too comfortable to really grab you by your innards.
It doesn’t end there either as Oldman worked with Kinnaman on RoboCop, who worked with Clarke on Knight Of Cups, while Rapace worked with Ridley Scott, one of the film’s producers, on Prometheus and director Daniel Espinosa worked with Kinnaman on Safe House. Movie casting isn’t meant to be this nepotistic, and you certainly can’t expect actors to deliver their best performance when roles are handed out based on who knows who.
Espinosa may well have missed the mark overall, but Child 44 isn’t all bad. Tom Hardy makes up for the majority of the film’s ills thanks to his sheer dedication to getting his characterisation so spot on and he’s got the impressive cinematography of Wood as his backdrop, which results in a counterbalance to the movie’s credibility. It’s just a shame the rest of the cast lets things down so much and the tension falls away as you draw closer to the end, both of which the director should have been able to influence to improve the movie.
Child 44 movie review: 3.1/5
