THE LITTLE THINGS | FILM REVIEW
Dir: John Lee Hancock (15, 122 mins)
Denzel Washington’s gravitas and immense watchability adds to this police procedural, set in LA in the 1990s but dragged down elsewhere by some hackneyed and illogical plotting. Washington plays beat cop Joe Deacon, once a hot-shot detective in the LAPD but now out in the sticks after an undisclosed incident, reduced to paperwork and visiting his old stomping ground to get evidence.
Following a bureaucratic snafu, he finds himself stuck in LA and embroiled in a serial killer case, led by Rami Malek’s ambitious detective. The killer brutally murders and poses his victims, a habit that has resonance with some old unfinished business of Deacon’s. Marrying his old-school police skills with Malek’s more modern DNA/fingerprint investigating, clues are uncovered that possibly link back to an old case and the two of them join forces, obsessively tracking down a suspect. This turns out to be a scenery-chomping, Charlie Manson-esque Jared Leto, who leads his pursuers a merry dance as they try and pin the crimes on him.
After an entertaining, slow-burn start, the film dips into cliché and eventually nonsense as Malek’s cold pursuit grows, a trait Deacon can identify in himself. Literally haunted by past crimes, Washington can make staring at a wall interesting and adds plenty of depth and nuance to his apparently browbeaten character. This, though, is spoiled by some script leaps from writer/director Hancock and a climatic denouement that doesn’t hit as hard as it should despite the best efforts of the cast. The LA of the 1990s is lovingly recreated, and the neo-noir investigation of obsession is diverting, but fumbled by a logic-defying lapse of character and various blind alleys. Denzel Washington anchors it all, but The Little Things ultimately falls short of expectations.
Available to rent at home from Thurs 11 Mar
words KEIRON SELF