There’s not a lot of good head-scratching crime thrillers coming out today, certainly not good enough to compare to the likes of Se7en and Zodiac. John Lee Hancock’s The little things start off slow and keeps getting slower. This detective film does not need car chases and blazing guns, but it does need a good mystery. The mystery might have felt a little complicated at times, but it gets more simple when you realize the film is a character study in disguise. Denzel Washington’s character Deke is shown to be a troubled deputy haunted by his past. A past that takes the entire film to be shown, but the little surprises they sprinkle in aids the overall story development and foreshadowing. The editing is truly one of the few problems I had with this movie, the pace simply didn’t keep up with the plot. However, if there’s something Hancock’s films can give us is a great performance. If you overlook Rami Malik’s mumbling lines you’ll see the quiet brilliance of Denzel Washington and the sneaky wickedness of Jared Leto’s. Both were impressive and managed to add layers to their characters without depending too much on the mediocre script. One of the little things that this film got right is the scenery. It is well shot and well-framed, I loved how they didn’t shy away and instead took their time with the grotesque murder scenes. The ending though is what steals the show. Just like a detective, you think you have everything figured out, but you don’t. It’s not a head in a box, but it’s just enough for this film.
