Image provided by Warner Bros
Admittedly, The Little Things is a film that has been on my radar for only a few weeks now but when I first heard that Oscar winners Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto were all starring in a psychological crime thriller, I was bought in. After the first trailer was released for the film a few weeks back, I couldn't wait to see this. I thought it looked like a modern day version of David Fincher's psychological crime thriller Se7en, which if you have seen, you know just how insane that movie is. While the film isn't as good as Se7en, the film is entertaining and contains quite a bit of suspense that I believe will thrill audiences.
The film stars Denzel Washington (Training Day, Remember the Titans) as police officer Deke Deacon who finds himself investigating the mysterious murders of women around the Los Angeles valley with detective Jimmy Baxter who is played by Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody, Mr. Robot). Rounding out the cast is Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club, Blade Runner 2049) who plays Albert Sparma, a strange man who is suspected to be the killer.
Right off the bat, the movie is insanely creepy. You can't help but feel the hair's on your arm stand up as the detectives investigate the unsolved murders. Director/Writer John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks) does a great job at creating an atmosphere of uneasiness and worriment. The actors involve all do a terrific job. Obviously, when you have a room full of Academy Award winners you're going to get at least good performances. The standouts for me were Rami Malek and Jared Leto. Malek does a great job as detective Jimmy Baxter who is haunted by the murders and doing whatever it takes to find the killer. The pressure of finding the killer is physically affecting Jimmy and throughout the movie, you start to notice a change in Malek's character. Jared Leto stars as the prime suspect and man does he kills it. While Jared Leto is an interesting character in real life, his character Albert Sparma is a detectives dream with his quirky habits and disturbing behavior. The climax of the film paid off for me and many will find themselves biting their fingernails at what they are watching...
As far as negatives go, the film does take about 30 minutes to get interesting. The film doesn't quite know how to get all the characters into the same room with each other so to speak. A lot of coincidences happen that draw everyone together and you have to decide early on if you can roll with it or not. Besides my opinion that all actors do a great job with their roles, a few of their motivations are puzzling. More specifically the character of Deacon played by Denzel Washington. Things are set up early on about his character's morality but as the film progresses, he seems to go against the grain of what his character stands for. The film is a slow burn and at a little over 2 hours, it will drag for some.
With all that said, this film was a breath of fresh air for me. I for awhile now have wanted a good mystery thriller and in my opinion we have one with The Little Things. Is it perfect? Of course not, but it is a good film. I think most will find the film to be shocking and quite creepy. I know I'll be checking to make sure the doors are locked late at night... Also... That ending...
Grade: B+
The Little Things releases in theaters & streams on HBOMax starting Friday January 29th.