The Little Things Review: An All Star Cast of Strong Personalities Propel This Police Procedural

Release date: January 29, 2021
Running time: 129 minutes
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Written and Directed By: John Lee Hancock

Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe Deacon is sent to Los Angeles for what should have been a quick evidence-gathering assignment. Instead, he becomes embroiled in the search for a serial killer who is terrorizing the city.

The first thing you'll notice about The Little Things is the all star cast.  When you get Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto into a film, you know you're going to have some star power behind it.  Denzel is pure Denzel; a confident, cocky, but also thoughtful and tortured policeman who gets too involved in his cases and sometimes skirts the rules for justice.  Malek plays a different type of character than I am used to with him; I liked him overall but he is an overly cocky investigator with an unusual delivery that is off putting, but is at least consistent throughout the film.  And Leto just completely transforms for this movie, changing his physical appearance, mannerisms, gait, and pretty much everything about him.  He is unrecognizable at times and shows why he is such a good actor.  But I do think he could have gone further; his character was a complete transformation but I also think he could have been more unsettling.  

The film starts with such a good opening, heart pounding opening but after that the movie becomes more of a detective, police procedural.  And don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the police and justice aspects of it. I liked seeing the jurisdictional wranglings of the various organizations and the clashing of personalities.  And I also enjoyed the slow pace, letting you take in the characters and learn more about them.  But I also thought that the film would have been more tense after the amazing opening.  The story definitely has an arc, and you learn more about Denzel's character's backstory throughout.  It is drip fed to you in a masterful manner, with some reveals not happening until very late in the film.  It will keep you wondering about him and his previous life, and it really puts a lot of the film in context.  This is helped by some really great writing that ties a lot of little details (the little things) together.  Some lines have double meaning based on events that have happened in the film, and it really constructs a complicated collage of characters and motivations. 

The Little Things has so much amazing build up, but it leads to an unsatisfying conclusion sequence.  I did really enjoy the actual ending, but some aspects of it felt like too easy of a conclusion and also out of character for a few individuals.  But there are additional revelations throughout and the ending is no exception.  You learn a few new tidbits at the end that really frame a lot of what happened and give you another "a ha" moment.  And the ending concludes an otherwise very engaging journey so I can forgive it for not being perfect.  

The Little Things takes an all star cast and piles on some unsettling scenes, great writing, and some amazing characters in this creepy police procedural.

Watch it.

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following us on our various social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube.   The Little Things Premieres on HBO Max and in theaters on Friday, January 29, 2021.