Missed opportunity..

Rating: 6/10 (1 October 2015)

Okay, so I liked this. It was a nice view and a nice bit of escapism for 2+ hours. But it didn't hit me. I have a unsatisfactory feeling of missed opportunity, of watching yet another run of the mill Hollywood production.
Off course I knew this film would deal with the same horrific history as the far superior "Citizen X" and I guess my expectations were a little to high, especially with such an awesome cast. Performances were good overall, but nowhere were they brilliant. And the story for me was very muddled, but I guess that's also to do with the period in Russia in which this film plays out. For me the heart of the story, the childmurderer case, felt rushed (despite of the 2 hours+ running time) because of the slow and really slightly tedious first part of the movie.
I've seen "Citizen X" more than a couple of times and Stephen Rea's performance brings a tear to my eye again and again, not to mention the maybe even more emotional wonderfully understated role by Max von Sydow. None of that in this one. The only bit that came close, without spoiling anything, was the scene with Gary Oldman (who else) visiting Rostov.
Joel Kinnaman was miscast, or typecast, and annoying. Fares Fares had to little to do and even Nicolas Lie Kaas' performance felt under-directed. Such great actors appearing in Hollywood movies, but performing nothing like they do in the movies they make at home.
"Safe House" was cool, "Snabba Cash" remains his masterpiece,"Child 44" is a missed opportunity for Daniel Espinosa. Iff you didn't see it, go find and watch "Citizen X" and shed a tear over one of history's most horrific episodes ever.. 6/10