Child 44 (2015)
Directed by Daniel Espinosa
Set in Stalin-era Soviet Union, a disgraced MGB agent is dispatched to investigate a series of child murders -- a case that begins to connect with the very top of party leadership.
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What critics compared Child 44 to
But wait: there’s also some guy going around murdering kids — someone we hear but don’t see, in a clumsy nod to the way Peter Lorre’s child killer is introduced in Fritz Lang’s “M.” “Child 44” means to fuse these two plots while, on top of this, hanging the Stalin-era, exposing it as the barely concealed hell that it was.
With the murders piling up in the background, it might have been amusing to invite audiences to speculate as to who’s responsible, though the killer’s identity has been changed from Smith’s novel to a seriously disturbed side character, at first depicted a la Fritz Lang’s “M,” as the shadowy figure entices unsuspecting children.
What’s really surprising is about this is that Price is no novice – with The Color of Money, Shaft, Ransom and episodes of The Wire under his belt, he’s proven himself an exceedingly solid writer.
From a visual and technological standpoint, one could call it post- Gravity : Most of the film is set within a high-tech orbiting spacecraft, and director Daniel Espinosa ( Safe House , Child 44 ) takes the weightlessness of the environment as inspiration, his camera floating constantly around the characters and down long passageways, pivoting upside down, catching majestic glimpses of the cosmos in the corner of the frame.
And on that score, it must be said that director Daniel Espinosa (“Child 44”) knows what he’s doing.
Daniel Espinosa’s latest is a return to the energy and narrative vitality he displayed with 2012’s Safe House (and neglected with 2015’s Child 44 ) ensuring that Life is an exciting thriller without a dull beat to be found.
At any rate, the latest thrill ride from director Daniel Espinosa ("Child 44") has a few early tricks of its own up its sleeve, particularly a nifty space walk by astronaut Reynolds, who's out there to grab a damaged capsule hurtling from Mars and carrying some very prized organic samples.
Director Daniel Espinosa (Child 44 (2015)) does his best to build suspense by conveying the crew members’ anxieties and ultimately creating an explosive, realistically violent finalé.