Despite boasting an impressive cast led by an impassioned Tom Hardy, Child 44 fails to engage as one plot falls over another to create a tonally confusing and ploddingly paced thriller.

The term “casting is everything” is correct the majority of the time. Yet once in a while comes that star-studded film to remind that even the best assemblage of thespians isn’t enough to save the most underwhelming of films.

Child 44 is a case in point. Based on the critically acclaimed novel by Tom Rob Smith, whatever tightly wound thrills featured on the page does not survive the adaptation to screen, with director Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) and screenwriter Richard Price (Clockers) delivering an overstuffed and undercooked mystery thriller that at 137 min (the first cut was 5 ½ hours long!) takes much too long to deliver very little.

What Child 44 does have of worth is a cracking cast who do try their best, albeit in a losing effort. Leading the charge is Tom Hardy. Set during Stalin led Soviet Union, Hardy stars as Leo Demidov, a war hero turned disgraced member of the military police who - besides dealing with the accusations of treason aimed towards his wife (Noomi Rapace) - is convinced that a serial killer of children is lose and craving more victims, quite an explosive claim in a Soviet Union where serial murder is seen as a “capitalist disease”.

Hardy delivers strong work here with what has to be his most emotionally potent turn yet. Solid support also features from Rapace, Joel Kinnaman (as Leo’s nemesis in the military police), Gary Oldman (as Leo’s commander who is compelled to help find the killer), and Paddy Consindine (as the serial killer in question).

It all proves to be wasted effort. Espinosa made an impression with his lone Hollywood feature Safe House, yet his bumbling handle on Child 44 will no doubt set his career back somewhat. The elements were there for a great movie, yet the refusal to cull sub-plots of little consequence and inability to create intrigue from material that is ripe with the stuff is frustrating and not in the least engrossing.   

Great films can be made from bulking serial killer stories, as evident in Zodiac and the Red Riding Trilogy. Perhaps the key for the success of Child 44 was to adapt it into a mini-series or spread it over a few films, because as it stands Child 44 is a bloated affair of little staying power.