Serial killer stories have become passé at this point, though the best of them, on the big screen and on television as well, can still be highly effective.  Child 44 looks for a compelling variance on the subject by detailing a horrific case in post-World War II Russia.  It is based upon a Tom Rob Smith novel that is in turn inspired by the real case of Andrei Chikatilo, who murdered more than fifty people during the 1970s and 1980s.  That case also inspired the made-for-cable movie Citizen X (1995).

Daniel Espinoza’s film is quite ambitious but also rather muddled.  My understanding is that it significantly departs from the novel’s plotting, removing a critical plot point, although I think the film tries to re-establish that connection in the final minutes.  The film insists, however, on devoting more time to the personal situation of Officer Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy) than it does to the murder case which eventually catches his full attention.  Demidov, an orphan, seems to be representative of the entire Russian hierarchy in that he can be feted as a hero one minute, hunted as a spy the next. Demidov’s efforts to survive a purge and protect his wife (Noomi Rapace), who has secrets of her own, are interesting, but they delay the ostensible story of “child 44” for at least an hour.  This personal drama works beautifully in one respect: when Demidov and wife Raisa are attacked repeatedly in the final act, Raisa’s response is very satisfying because of the change in feeling regarding her husband that she has undergone over the past two hours.

That being said, the film remains muddled.  Very little explanation is given when unexpected things occur, or when people suddenly switch sides, or why they have to disappear.  The Russian accents do not help; Tom Hardy speaks like vintage Marlon Brando, as though he has marbles in his mouth.  The climax ends up as a mud fight, which was certainly a bad idea.  The confrontation just prior to the big mud fight is staged very poorly, with the murderer simply wandering into the woods.  Anybody clever enough to get away with so much would have made some escape plans, I believe.  Not this guy.

All the elements are here, from the gruesome real life inspiration to the alien cultural and political landscape, from primitive forensic evidence to solid acting talent (Hardy, Rapace, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Tara Fitzgerald, Jason Clarke), to create a very powerful motion picture.  But the film lacks peaks — it seems to be all valleys — and never becomes the compelling suspense thriller it could have been, and should have been.  Pity.  For other, better Russian-based crime stories, try Citizen X or, of course, Gorky Park.  ☆ ☆.  20 April 2015.