Organized crime, conspiracy, drug-smuggling and murder in a Hong Kong ice factory, where vocal employees soon disappear without a trace. Of course, this is all just a simple vehicle to move us from one martial arts fight to the next. As Bruce Lee's first major starring role, such brawls are predictably excellent, though Bruce himself plays a quiet pacifist, fists in his pockets, until the third act. Until then, known quantity James Tien handles the action admirably (and was apparently a fallback option, in case Lee couldn't get it done) but he's clearly the second fiddle. By the time we've seen Lee face off with the boss himself in a bloody climactic duel, Tien is long forgotten.
Loaded with quick cuts and poor camerawork, it's not exactly the best showcase of Bruce's skills, but that last fight makes amends. It's all very, very stereotypically 70s, from the grainy film quality to the eyeball-rolling visual gags, the simple dialog to the brash, horn-rich soundtrack that suddenly swells and recedes with little regard for what's happening on-screen. Lee's acting has a way to go at this point, but his charisma is downright magnetic when he's in the midst of a rumble. This one's probably best viewed as a series of select highlights than a complete film.
While I walked in the theater I expected a good movie. Because I liked the concept of the story as it was set-up in the trailer. But mostly because I 'trusted' Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman to pick a good movie to play in. While I walked out the theater I had different thoughts unfortunately. The film was disappointing to me and I will try to explain why. It wasn't the acting and 'world building' but I disliked the directing, screenplay and filming.
First of the directing and filming, all of the action scenes where flooded with shaky cam. This was handled very badly in my opinion. I couldn't figure out what was happening most of the time. Due to the shaky cam, number of cuts, close-ups and the peace of all that. That was the main reason why I disliked 'Safe House', which is also made by Daniel Espinosa. It almost felt like he was trying the make the filming and directing 'not perfectly on purpose' to make it 'real' but it didn't worked out at all! It all felt kinda clumsy and there were way to many meaningless shots overall. There were some exceptions, some shots of the cities and area's they visited where beautifully. They really landed the rough and dark tone that they successfully tried the show. Although they over did it sometimes.
Then the screenplay or script, which is based on a 'best selling novel', again! First of you get a nice back story of Tom Hardy's main character, which felt real to me. All of the other characters felt a bit empty, like they were there to fill a place that was written for them. That made it almost impossible for my to understand the characters and the decisions they make. I also missed the whole balance in the story. The first part was way to long ( set-up ), the middle was rush ( plot kicks in ) and the final party ( ending ) was also rushed and kinda unbelievable. I think because of this I wasn't sucked in to the story. The second and third party felt way to easy and straight forward. Like solving a child murder case which is spread over thousand of miles is easy. I think the story could be told in a better and more interesting way.
Overall I was disappointed by Child 44. The dark Russia after WWII was displayed intense but the story lagged suspension and balance. The action scenes sucked even more than the conversations because of the directing and filming methods they just. Tom Hardy did is part good but not brilliant and unfortunately Gary Oldman's characters was barely in it. I give Child 44 an 5 aka 'Meh'! Thanks for reading!
