Good story, good acting, not a great movie however

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2016)

First off, if you want to see a movie about the actual story Child 44 is extremely loosely based on, see Citizen X. That movie is far more graphic in the detail it shows of the murdered children and follows the story and timeline of the actual events.
Child 44 actually at times seems to forget that at essence it was supposed to be about a sick serial murderer in the Soviet Union.
What this movie did very well was show the fear and moral bankruptcy in the communist regime in the Soviet Union. I think for that reason, everyone should consider watching this movie. Liberals and feminists probably will not like such a raw display of what life would be like if they were given free reign to destroy traditional American values and replace with theirs.
That said, the ending is just ridiculous, really detracted from what could have been a strong movie.
Spoiler - Don't read this part if you don't want the movie spoiled!
So at the end of the movie, the literally just had this horrific monster get shot in the middle of a personal dispute between to rivals in a clandestine secret police force who now wanted to kill each other.
That left the audience disappointed, to say the least. We wanted to see this guy tried and then executed for his crimes.
Finally, I don't believe this movie knew exactly what story it was trying to tell. Was it a story of a frustrated secret cop who struggled with what he was regularly forced to do? Was it a story of a terrible series of crimes and the effects on those who weren't allowed to investigate it?
Was it a story of a man and a woman who come to understand each other and salvage real love where there was no love before?
Sadly, this movie does do a great job in any of these areas.