The Little Things
Warner BrosIt’s almost a tragedy that John Lee Hancock took nearly thirty years to finally make The Little Things, because nearly everything he wants to do with it has since been done – and often it’s been done better. However, that’s not to say the film is a total loss, as there is a lot here for one to enjoy.
Denzel Washington stars as Deputy Sheriff Joe ‘Deke’ Deacon and teams up with Rami Malek’s Detective Jim Baxter in order to catch a serial killer – possibly Jared Leto’s Albert Sparma, terrorising 1990s Los Angeles. Beyond just being set in the 90s, The Little Things manages to homage and retroactively copy far superior versions of the genre, including some of Washington’s other projects. Many comparisons will also undoubtedly be drawn to David Fincher’s Seven, with the film even feeling like a revisionist take on Fincher’s movie, despite the fact Hancock wrote The Little Things two years before Seven was released.
Washington works well as Deke, with Deke not being a challenging character to portray. There’s nothing here that Washington hasn’t done before, but he still manages to own the role. Deke isn't a particularly interesting protagonist – he’s a walking stereotype of the genre with an innumerable amount of tropey phrases such as ‘the man, the myth, the legend’ and ‘Deke’s got his own style’ being thrown around by other characters – and he’s only easy to get behind because of Washington’s ingrained charisma and likability.
This is Malek’s first big follow up (although it was supposed to be No Time To Die) since his Oscar winning performance in Bohemian Rhapsody. Unfortunately, Baxter is another non interesting character and Malek doesn’t carry nearly enough charm to bring him to life. Whether or not Hancock has honed the script since 1993 is difficult to tell, but if he has, then he has left his characters short-changed. Leto, on the other hand, eats up almost every scene he’s in.
What does work well is the style, and genre fans will rejoice. The Little Things is rarely an uninteresting film with Hancock shooting a 90s crime thriller using modern technology. Los Angeles is a bright and beautiful landscape, with the sunlit highway sequences always offering an interesting juxtaposition to the horrible murders taking place.
The Little Things is a flawed experience, but that feels mostly due to how long it took for the film to be made. The crime genre has moved on since the 90s, but Hancock has created a mostly well-cast, nicely paced and entertaining enough ‘throwback’ film that isn’t afraid to risk it all on it’s divisive ending.