Stars: 2/5
How is it that a 90’s era crime thriller written and directed by John Lee Hancock (who worked on hits like “The Founder” and “The Blind Side”) and starring Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto can be so painstakingly boring and unconvincing as a movie?
The answer? Forgetting the little things that matter when making a movie.
Originally written by Hancock in 1993 for Steven Spielberg to direct, ”The Little Things” revolves around seasoned deputy sheriff Joe “Deke” Deacon (Washington) who teams up with Jim Baxter (Malek), a up and coming LAPD detective, to solve a recent string of serial murders. As Deke wrestles with a dark secret from his past, the duo believes their prime suspect to be ever-creepy loner, Albert Sparma (Leto).
When I first saw the trailer for this, I was not hugely thrilled by it. It looked atmospheric, eerie and well-acted, but not entirely original. Nevertheless, the film seemed like an interesting throwback to hardboiled 1990’s psychological crime thrillers like David Fincher’s ”Se7en” or Jonathan Demme’s ”The Silence of the Lambs.” Unfortunately, I feel like I spent the entire runtime of two hours and eight minutes waiting for something of interest to happen. When something did happen, it was rare and remained inconsistent with its storytelling throughout.
I personally thought the performances on display were great. This is not Washington’s peak performance, but he is still as magnetic as ever to watch onscreen. His relationship with Malek’s Baxter is neat, but I never felt like there was much development between the two. The two characters parallel each other extremely well (Malek is Washington’s character before he made a life-altering mistake) which probably would read well in a novel, but it does not feel earned in the movie. However, I totally understood what they were going for though with their connection, especially with the film’s chilling ending. It just did not work for me.
Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, Leto once again gives his all into giving the creepiest performance of his career. While I strongly disapprove of his nomination (Lakeith Stanfield in “Judas and the Black Messiah” supremacy), Leto absolutely steals the whole show. His greasy long hair, sunken eyes and monotone voice all serve him well onscreen. I don’t know how much he is drawing from real experience, but who’s to say?
I’m honestly at a loss for words here as I am trying to meet my word count for this article because nothing even happens in the film that could possibly warrant a lengthy review. John Lee Hancock’s ”The Little Things” is undeniably well-acted, but the movie completely forgot to tend to the actual little things. Because it’s the little things that make a movie. It’s the direction, the writing, the pacing, the setting and most importantly, the story. It’s the little things. It’s the little things that get you caught with a below average movie.
Seriously, just watch ”Se7en” instead.
