Child 44 2015

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Despite gritty atmosphere and a sometimes smart script by the estimable Richard Price, whose credits include "The Wire," "Child 44" can't sort out the basics. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: "Child 44" plays like a curious relic of an earlier Cold War mindset, when Western audiences took comfort that they were living on the right side of the Iron Curtain, and relied on movies to remind them as much. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: It's as tedious as a bottomless bowl of borscht. Read more

Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter: The movie doesn't really captivate the way it should, and as the manhunt stretches on it actually diminishes in suspense, ultimately overstaying its two-plus-hour running time. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "Child 44" is involving despite itself. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: The usual serial-killer thriller in Soviet drag. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Just say nyet. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: A muddled, mumbling thriller that never gets us in an iron grip. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: What "Child 44" most resembles is a rushed and crowded pilot for a television drama. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: [An] unrelentingly grim, plodding, and close-to-incoherent adaptation of Tom Rob Smith's best-selling mystery. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The movie hints at a riveting story but is incapable of delivering it. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Given these actors and the ravishing decrepitude of the locations and costumes and the lustrous cinematography of Oliver Wood, I found it more than watchable the whole way through. Read more

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press: Ultimately, what we have is a bloated, grim, underwhelming affair, which is unfortunate - because the movie starts out with a lot going for it. Read more

James Rocchi, TheWrap: A Soviet-era slog through crime and corruption, painted in grim shades of muck, blood, moss and bark, director Daniel Espinosa's "Child 44" turns a best-selling period-piece procedural into a slow, tedious thriller almost totally devoid of thrills. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Thanks to a feeble script, bland direction and - God, why? - those impenetrable accents, no one emerges from this fiasco with much dignity. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Child 44 could have been far more compelling had it dug deeper into its political thriller layers and not drifted into yet another story of a diabolical killer on the loose. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: For long stretches, it's dull and plodding, chugging along on the fumes of its earnest intentions. Still, there are worse ways to kill two hours than watching Hardy work his sturdy magic. Read more