So, this is just a subpar remake of Citizen X?

In a nutshell, yes. Don't be fooled by the great cast, the editing is awful. Even having read the book, I barely knew what was happening. And the least say about how everything looks gray and crappy, the better. Not even dark in a bleak way, just badly filmed.

It's a well made film with a completely different take. It's set in Stalin-era Russia, and all the characters are different, as both movies are merely based on the same serial killer.

Semper Contendere Propter Amoram et Formam
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Yes and no. It's based on the book by Tom Rob Smith, which, like Citizen X is loosely based on the story of Russian serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo. Personally, I think Smith saw Citizen X and was "inspired" enough to take it from a different angle.

The nice thing about the book is that it gives more (and better) backstory for Demidov and the killer. Without those things it's basically Citizen X except that the main character is MGB.

Yes, this movie / novel are a rip off of Citizen X, except that this film takes place during the Stalin era. I do like the fact that this movie brings the NKVD / MGB's brutality to light. They were as bad, if not worse than the Gestapo. As someone who is familiar with the history of Stalin era Soviet Union I can say this movie was spot on... for the most part. It would seem that the film took great efforts in making the uniforms, clothing, towns, factories etc... look authentic. However, the plot is lifted straight from Citizen X; which actually happened, but over a ten year span during the waning years of the Soviet Union. Citizen X is a much better film, with respect to it shows the one thing that the Soviet Union was great at (but Child 44 barely touched) was the immense Bureaucratic red tape that everyone (especially the detectives) had to go through to get anything accomplished. While Child 44 I think accurately portrays the dreary and brutal Stalinist era USSR, the movie fell short. The plot for Child 44 took Citizen X's plot, took it to 30 years earlier, made it more brutal and bloody for the protagonist (if you can call an NKVD and then MGB official to be a protagonist) and somehow managed to take away the gravitas of the child serial killer. Hell, Child 44 did not even bother to change the serial killer's hometown, which was Rostov on Don! I mean how lazy could they be?

So I give this film a B+ for historical accuracy (in terms of the customs, set and overall mood). I would give this film a D for originality and a C- for realization of the plot. So overall, I would say a 6.5 out of 10 stars.

For its pedigree, I expected a lot more from Child 44. Very muddled, not a thriller, very murky cinematography, bad editing. Citizen X, although not a particularly memorable movie, was at least a decent movie. In Citizen X the crime was source of the narrative, in Child 44 it's the protagonist-- the movie's about him, not the crime. And it made for a movie I'll forget probably as soon as I finish typing this. Not an awful movie, just very long and boring.

YES, I'm so glad people are remembering HBOs great film on this very subject. Thanks.

The point of the Child 44 book and movie was to present a fictional story in the very true political context of the hyper-paranoid Stalin regime. There's a good treatment of the same Stalinistic paranoia in the book and movie "Enemy at the Gates" and, to a lesser extent, in "Citizen X."

To the OP, to each his own. "Citizen X" might be one of the top two thrillers I've ever watched, it's right up there with "The Silence of the Lambs". I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed that film. Stephen Rea is nothing short of brilliant in the lead role, and the fact that Walking Dead's "Dale" (Jeffrey DeMunn) is cast as Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo is a nice bonus.