A strong performance in new film Child 44 has won Tom Hardy warm praise, but his latest crop of facial hair got a mixed response on Friday afternoon.

The actor was seen making an exit from London’s Soho Hotel looking down at heel in a scruffy printed T-shirt and jeans, but it was his healthy beard growth that caught the eye as he made his way towards a waiting car.

Tom, 37, completed his look with baseball cap that shielded his shaved head, while a black bag was casually slung across his broad shoulders.

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Here he comes: Tom Hardy was seen making an exit from London’s Soho Hotel looking down at heel in a scruffy printed T-shirt and jeans, but it was his healthy beard growth that caught the eye as he made his way towards a waiting car

Carrying a suit bag in his left hand, the British star appeared to be upbeat as he exited the central London venue with an acquaintance.

Tom is currently back in UK cinemas alongside Noomi Rapace and Gary Oldham in new thriller Child 44, but while his performance as fictional Russian agent Leo Demidov won praise, the film itself fared poorly, receiving aggregate score of 28% on film review website Rotten Tomatoes.

The actor previously showed off his new beard and buzz cut at the premiere of his latest film at London's Vu West End on Thursday evening.

Low key: Tom, 37, completed his look with baseball cap that shielded his shaved head, while a black bag was casually slung across his broad shoulders

Wearing a dapper blue suit - complete with a matching shirt and tie - the Hammersmith-born talent was barely recognisable in his new guise.

The premiere comes just hours after it was revealed that Russia has cancelled the release of the Hollywood thriller set in the Stalin era - claiming it distorts history and would air as the country celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany.

It is based on a novel by British writer Tom Rob Smith with a screenplay by American novelist Richard Price and was due to premiere in Russia on Wednesday.

He's off: Carrying a suit bag in his left hand, the British star appeared to be upbeat as he exited the central London venue with an acquaintance

Russia's culture ministry said the film's distributors in Russia, Central Partnership, had agreed to withdraw a request for a distribution licence after ministry officials viewed the film.

'Films such as 'Child 44' should not go out in our country on mass release, earning money from our cinema audiences, not in the year of the 70th anniversary of victory, not ever,' Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky wrote on the ministry's website.

The move to effectively ban a major mainstream Hollywood film just a day before it was due to premiere is unprecedented.

In recent years, Russia has cracked down harshly on negative depictions of the Soviet Union during the Stalin era, while criticism of those who fought in the Second World War is taboo.

The culture ministry accused the film of 'distortion of historical facts and the idiosyncratic treatment of events before, during and after' the war.