Directed By John Lee Hancock

Starring – Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto

The Plot – Deke (Washington), a burnt-out Kern County, CA deputy sheriff teams up with Baxter (Malek), a crack LASD detective, to nab a serial killer (Leto). Deke’s nose for the “little things” proves eerily accurate, but his willingness to circumvent the rules embroils Baxter in a soul-shattering dilemma. Meanwhile, Deke must wrestle with a dark secret from his past.

Rated R for violent/disturbing images, adult language and full nudity

(1) THE LITTLE THINGS – Official Trailer – YouTube

POSITIVES

– Shining trio. The work of the three male leads here is exceptionally commendable, and definitely helps to push the material to watchable territory, despite the abundance of negatives in the screenplay inevitably left me with a bad taste in my mouth. For Washington, it’s a professionalism that has made him one of the best of any generation that he brings to the role, wearing the heft and resonance of each previous case that exudes his performance as Deke reaching levels of unfamiliarity in Washington’s expansive filmography. In addition to him, Leto is spell-binding as Albert Sparma, bringing effectiveness and believability from his appearance, which combines greasy hair and sunken-in eyes to really bring out the creep factor of his demeanor. Malek’s grasp also far exceeds the reach of his character’s limited direction, combining a wild card of a personality with the assertiveness of the responsibility of the job in question. Malek isn’t one of my favorite actors going today, but there’s a look and energy to him that often burns a hole through his audience for on-screen magnetism, constantly maintaining your attention while preserving an air of a ticking timebomb in a variety of characters who could explode at any moment.

– Musical pulse. Experienced composer Thomas Newman brings with him a unique approach to the movie’s musical underlining, which triggers a warm feeling of nostalgia for crime noir’s existing in and around central California. Aside from an obvious detection of saxophone persisting somewhere in the distance of his impeccable volume control, it’s the unorthodox involvement of harps and string melodies that attain a level of distinct personality for the film, and help polish off the unnerving consistency of scenes during investigation that work hand-in-hand with the gruesomely grizzly visuals we’re being presented. Newman’s central theme does occasionally feel repetitious, but as a whole there’s enough variety in the many compositions that allow the musical compass to evolve and mature with the elements of the story in frame, giving us audible electricity in our ears that are fairly evident from the movie’s opening sequence.

– Detailed strategy. Without question, the film’s biggest benefactor is in the meticulously spontaneous outlining of its detective work, which often feels anything but geared for the pacing of a three act structure in cinema. That’s not to say that this movie ever bored me, quite the opposite actually. It cohesively illustrated the passage of time when looking for a lead with the unique angles of investigation, which materialize in something as trivial as the dental records in a slice of pizza, to name one. Aside from this, I also loved that the editing scheme played into the mindset of those tasked with the responsibility of bringing a killer to justice. Usually, I will condemn a movie for convenient techniques of stitching in scenes that remind us of something that happened previously in the movie as an air of reminder, but here it works smoothly because it conjures up the mentality that constantly hangs in the balance of their pivotal moments, all the while serving as the moment of influence that draws each piece of the investigation jigsaw together for that moment of realization.

– Atmosperically rich. There’s much to commend about Hancock’s depiction of the seedy underbelly of the Los Angeles crime world, but in particular it’s the way it transforms the city of angels at night to a nightmarish manifestation of hell that is anything but familiar. This seaps into the consistency of the picture, preserving itself as a wet blanket of sorts to the film’s personality, but simultaneously never alienating the audience from investing in the film and having a good time with it. It very much feels like an environment where anything can and often will happen in a moment of interaction gone wrong, and with so many angles of documentation realizing the almost poisonous cloud of fog and mystery that hangs over its many dirty secrets, Hancock is able to flesh it out in a way that feels like the biggest antagonist to Deke’s ensuing investigation.

NEGATIVES

– Riddled with cliches. “The Little Things” certainly feels like every mid-90’s crime serial thriller, but made all the more evident with the checklist of familiarity that I was quite literally checking off with each passing moment. Detective with a haunting past? CHECK, Former police unit that now polarizes him for his past failures? CHECK, Lack of a meaningful female presence in the film? CHECK. There are many more, but I will spare you of their involvement before seeing the film. It’s OK to add these elements to an installment in this particular subgenre as long as it can simultaneously add unconventionally engaging elements of the screenplay that off-set such an obvious intention, but unfortunately there’s absolutely nothing about “The Little Things” that is even remotely unpredictable, and keep it from the overwhelming feeling of feeling like nothing other than a momentary passage of time, in the same vein as a crime novel you buy in an airport for a three hour flight.

– Outdated screenplay. It should come as no surprise that Hancock’s script has sat on the studio shelves since the early 90’s, especially considering his timepiece of a film sets itself in a period that adds little to no relevance in the scheme of its detective work or presentation. For one, the inconsistencies of cars in passing, or product labels in stores soil the immersive qualities in the audience engaging themselves in a particular place in time. This is especially easy to trigger for someone like me, who watches a period piece to intentionally find objects and images that don’t line up in a timely fashion. Aside from this, there’s nothing that requires this film to be set in this age, whether it be in the lack of convenient communication between on-the-street agents and the department, or a bigger picture for the ensuing world surrounding the film’s setting, which plays into a particular state of mind with female abuse victims or geographic patterns of consistency. It just feels like it was lazily rendered to keep it from being rewritten, and sticks out like a sore thumb in an era where technological advances in detective work could’ve better maintained the urgency that the film so desperately requires.

– Deflating mystery. For the first hour of “The Little Things”, I was firmly invested to the evolving stature of this case, which felt like it kept getting bigger with each passing clue. Unfortunately, that element of cryptic anonymity almost halts immediately when Leto’s character is introduced to the fray, in turn halting any other possible leads without warrant because this guy looks and acts a certain way. From this point on, there is still an entire hour to go in the film, and it’s here where the pacing does viciously catch up to the film, sacrificing the one element of intrigue for the story (Mystery) that made it special in the first place. The movie’s momentum grinds to a screeching halt, and the overall investigation reaches frustrating levels of stupidity with an ending that cements its overall waste of time. More on that in a minute.

– Lack of thrills. For a movie so engaged in outlining itself as a thriller crime story, the lack of physicality between sides, as well as one key decision in the movie’s direction really distorted this vantage point, and continuously kept me from feeling anything for the characters we’re asked to get behind. Both of these elements solidify an overall lack of vulnerability for our protagonists, but aside from that it’s the way that the movie’s trivial second and third acts focus more on the backstory of Washington’s Deke without further evolving the movements of the conflict in question, giving us an investigation that quite literally halts while the character study surrounding it is constantly shedding its skin at all times. For my money, I could’ve used a physical altercation where the suspect shows off their capabilities, similar to how Kevin Spacey beatdown Brad Pitt in “Se7en” to elude the authorities. It could’ve further added to the proximity in the investigation being inches within reach, while further selling the torture of the case.

– That ending. I say “That” because it really is a climax that tries so desperately to instill a twist that reshapes the outline of the narrative, but all it did was anger me to the inevitability of disappointment that this angle of storytelling couldn’t keep itself from. It’s worse the longer you think about it because the case not only never receives the clarity needed to put everyone involved at rest, but it also goes a direction that really makes you dislike all characters involved during a time that isn’t socially responsible with our current landscape between police and citizens. Is it unpredictable? Sure, but it’s at the expense of the narrative and characters that it took two hours to build along the way, leaving us on such a down note that feels phoned-in and inconsequential when compared to everything else that came before it. To be honest, this ending was so bad that it took my grade down two whole points, giving us a series of closing moments so diluted in cinematic logic that you can actually hear the wimper that comes from the promised bang.

My Grade: 4/10 or D