Child 44 is dull, boring and bland, with a ponderous runtime and an allergy to momentum. But, above all else, the Soviet murder mystery is forgettable. From a cast that includes Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke and Vincent Cassel, that's just unforgivable. Now, technically Hardy is the best thing in the movie, but that doesn't get him a free pass by a long shot. Not only failing to elevate the material, he's soberness feels like a parody of what life was like behind the Iron Curtain, rather than a down-and-gritty thriller made post-Cold War. The problem is likely in the direction - Child 44 may have the air of a prestige project, but it's directed by Daniel Espinosa, the man behind Safe House, so is hardly a big-hitter. The actors all stumble, which likely stems from Espinosa's inability to work with his stars. Hardy's lucky that less than a month later Mad Max: Fury Road turned up, quickly washing out the bad taste of Child 44 (which given the film's predication for grime, was basically the flavour of damn mud) and ensuring it'll be a forgotten mark on an otherwise stellar 2015.
