Review of Child 44 (2015) by Greg B — 19 Apr 2015

"Child 44" is a morose, dark film about a KGB Officer (Tom Hardy) who tries to expose a cover-up the Russian government is perpetrating with regards to several dead children. As the old Russian saying goes, "There is no murder in paradise," and even though the Stalin regime knows a mass murderer is killing these kids, they paint them as tragic accidents.

Hardy attempts to subvert them and expose the secret. Apparently there is also an implausible plot point that a serum was put into the killer's blood to make him sanguine for the blood of children, which is a highly absurd plot device.

While this film wasn't terrible, I just found it very dark and gruesome. It proceeds in a nihilistic fashion that shows the worst of humanity, and most of the film takes place in factory-like areas, leaving a gloomy effect on the atmosphere.

Tom Hardy does some fine acting, but I feel it is overshadowed by an unnecessarily dark plot that just leaves negative feelings with the audience rather than joy. I applaud the movie for being an authentic period piece with good acting, but I don't want to be disturbed and left devoid of hope after watching a movie.

This film kind of left a bad taste in my mouth, and I did not enjoy it as much as I would have had it been less gritty and violent. Most of the docking of points in this film come with the execution for an overly depressing film ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C+.