Image via IMdB
I knew I wasn’t going to finish the audiobook for Child 44 before my book club met to talk about it so I went ahead and watched the movie. I know, I know- the bibliophile’s greatest sin. I did finish the book, however, a few days later so I can fairly draw some comparisons between the two.
Things I Thought Were Awesome
Raisa. Maybe it’s because I adored Noomi Rapace in the Millenium trilogy, but I thought Raisa rocked. She was a lot stronger of a person in the movie, helping in the train fight and in the final fight (which, granted, didn’t really happen in the book).
Changes That Didn’t Really Bother Me
No car crash and other scenes removed. As I started to notice these small scenes missing, I was at first upset, but in the end, they weren’t needed. Leo’s car crash, escaping under the train, they all built tension but that tension was already there. Taking them out of the movie didn’t detract from the plot or characters at all so I was okay with it in the end.
Things That Were Taken Out and I’m Still Wondering Why
Finding out about other murders. I thought that finding the bodies made Leo more invested in the mystery. Having someone tell him about them ruined that motivation so I felt it feel a bit flat.
Seeing Child 44s body. It was a huge point in the book that he hadn’t seen the boy’s body, just heard about the mutilations. I thought seeing it removed that and to me, it made no difference. It felt like the filmmakers just wanted to show a dead body to keep the ‘action adventure’ level a bit higher.
Things That Changed Too Much
Knowing he was the orphan from the beginning. This upset me before the credits were over. Finding out that Pavel and Leo were the same was a big turning point in the book, though, we don’t know about Pavel’s brother and honestly, that was taken out of the movie so why do we care that Leo’s real name is Pavel at all or that Leo is adopted? We really don’t care at all. I thought it was a dumb thing to add in unless it becomes important in the sequels.
The brothers. OH MY GOSH! How could they cut this, it was the best part of the book! Knowing that the two men are long-lost brothers is the motivation behind the murders and it ruined the movie for me. It was so twisted to hear why he murdered and having that taken out completely was stupid! Ugh, so mad about this one.
My husband says I was predisposed not to like it after I hated the book. Was it just me? Reader, what did you think of the Child 44 movie?
Until next time, write on.
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