Written by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto, Natalie Morales
Rating: [2/5]
When watching a film starring three Academy Award-winning actors at the forefront, it would not be unreasonable to have expectations of it containing some quality. After all, the likelihood of three individuals deemed the best in their field in their respective year could all look at a script, decide to take it on, and the end result be as boring as The Little Things, right? Well, I have some bad news.
After a recent murder in Kern County, California, deputy sheriff Joe Deacon (Denzel Washington) and newly appointed lead detective Jimmy Baxter (Rami Malek) investigate the work of a serial killer matching the M.O. of a slew of murders Deacon encountered years ago. This leads them down the obsessive path to find the killer at all costs before any more lives are lost.
Operating with a familiar plot to many films centered on serial killers and the obsessive cops trying to track them down, The Little Things has the simple job of crafting something worth navigating through its eeriness. It must make somewhat engaging characters to follow and the need to create an environment where we feel like we go through this mystery-solving journey with them. All requisites to an entertaining film of this genre, but this feature almost impressively does none of that well, shockingly.
To be fair, this feature has refused to see its release for multiple decades at this point with John Lee Hancock originally writing a script for Steven Spielberg of all people to direct back in the 1990s. Then multiple issues occur where we now receive this in the year 2021. Perhaps reading the tea leaves could have indicated that perhaps all of the mishaps served as a sign to not actually move forward with this story and release it because what we receive makes me wish it never saw its release as it does not provide anything necessarily new or engaging in this genre. Instead, it borrows from other much more successful and exhilarating stories within this genre to create something so stale and lifeless.
The feature tries to integrate some questions about morality by these detectives about the frustration of working in a line of work where success in catching criminals can drive one insane. We see this mostly with Deacon, as we learn the man has abandoned any healthy relationships with others because of the rabbit hole these cases have driven him down. This leads to erratic behavior and the rulebook being thrown out whenever convenient. Deacon, in this investigation, wants to prevent Baxter from falling down the same hole as they investigate the obviously guilty Albert Sparma (Jared Leto). Everything points to this man as the culprit, but finding any way to prove it infuriates these officers to no end. Sparma has the appearance of what it would look like if someone asked to draw a serial killer without direction and Leto’s performance nearly falls into the comedic with his obvious guilt.
Thus we have incredibly frustrated officers dealing with someone essentially toying with them, which certainly has promise, especially when these three characters have these three actors attached to their respective roles. However, none of this has any real zip, energy, or momentum pushing it through to keep us engaged with the story. This leads me to question whether or not these actors were the right individuals to cast in the role. Denzel mostly tries his best in taking on this morally dubious individual, Leto is Leto, which leaves Rami Malek as the odd man out where he sticks out. He does not sell this role off well by any stretch and therefore does not help an already-sinking ship of a film on its way down because of its incompetence in other areas.
Instantly forgettable and overly long for what it seeks to portray through its narrative The Little Things tries to deliver some harsh realities of this world but instead reminds me to perhaps not watch a John Lee Hancock film again unless it stars Michael Keaton. Ascribing the word boring to a feature always feels harsh to do and usually serves as a lazy complaint but man this story could not keep a decent engagement level throughout making me wish they’d just handcuff me as the serial killer to get it over with. Something completely missing the mark and should have stayed in development hell all those years ago.
Films with Josh 