Child 44

Parental Rating: R

Contains: Language    Violence    Sex    Adult Content    

Jill's Review

Opens April 17, 2015

Runs 137 minutes

It is Stalin era Russia just after WWII. Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy) is a war hero now with the military police. When a series of child murders is uncovered, Leo is determined to solve them. However, according to Stalin "there is no murder in paradise" and Leo is told to stand down and follow the party line. His superiors begin to think that Leo is not a team player and they turn on him. He is disgraced and sent to a remote town to serve out his days working for another disgraced General, Mikhail Nesterov (Gary Oldman). With only the help of his wife Raisa (Noomi Rapace), Leo follows the trail of a serial killer and attempts to root out the corruption in the military police before they stop him for good.

This is based on the Novel of the same name. I think I am going to go back and read it because I still have so many questions after seeing this movie. The acting is superb and the movie is well made. It is just very DARK. The motivation of the serial killer is never very clear. And, the fact that they disgrace Tom Hardy the way they do makes very little sense in the movie. They killed just about anyone else who stood in the way and it seems that they would have just killed him off early in the movie. But, then there wouldn't have been a movie. The Husband and I both were shaking our heads. It is a decent movie, just not a great one. It seemed too long and just a little vague for my taste. But, if you like WWII era films, this one does have a lot of intrigue and keeps you wondering what is going on until the end.

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