The Little Things

If you're a fan of cop films The Little Things will feel very familiar to you. An odd couple pairing of detectives. One young turk, one seasoned veteran. Obsessions with work that have taken their tolls on relationships. Bending of rules to suit agendas. Climaxes in dusty, lonely countrysides. Yes, you're probably thinking of Se7en as you read this but there's a touch of Zodiac in here too. It's not a patch on either though. But that's not to say it's bad.

There's a serial killer stalking the woman of L.A. county circa 1990 and there's a manhunt on. It's caught the eye of L.A. county sheriff Joe Deakins (Denzel Washington) and there's similarities between the most recent murders and a series of killings he worked on years before as an L.A.P.D. detective. The job took it's toll on him causing him to leave his job and his reappearance has ruffled the feathers of the cops working the case, especially the hotshot in charge, Jimmy Baxter (Rami Malek). Thankfully the younger man is savvy enough to know the older man's expertise will come in handy so the two team up to investigate the psychopath cutting a swathe through the Californian landscape.

The script for The Little Things has been knocking about Hollywood for the last 28 years and you get the feeling it would have been better received had it been made back then. Now it feels sedate and tame compared to more modern efforts and plot points that would have felt fresh then feel cliched now. But solid, crisp, clear cut direction from John Lee Hancock and a likable turn from Denzel Washington will keep you watching. Denzel has reached the grand-dad stage of his career and he just makes it look effortless. A showy interrogation room rant aside it doesn't even feel like he's acting at times. His Joe is so charming that when kids who've only known him for minutes kiss him on the cheek you won't even blink an eye. When cops with reason to snub him don't, you'll think "fair enough". When he's like this everything else pales in comparison.

Rami Malek as Jimmy definitely does. He's in underplay mode too but it doesn't work out well for him at all and at times he looks like he's just staring off into space having forgotten there's a camera rolling. It's often been said that Oscar winners tend to follow up their winning roles with duds and that may very well be the case here. When the film's over you'll barely remember a thing about him. Jared Leto's turn as the prime suspect Albert Sparma is rather more effective but that's a case of Leto's creepy real life persona bleeding into his onscreen one. He makes for a very unsettling bad guy but one that's always pantomime levels of obvious.

But maybe that's the film's reason for being. He's so obvious that you don't need to wonder, you can concentrate on the film's real theme, the effect this godawful work that detectives do has on their minds, their souls. How it consumes you, how looking horror in the face constantly ruins you. Joe is already a goner and Jimmy's on the way. It will remind you of Zodiac in that it's not really about the killer at all, but more about the psychological toll wrought by what they do. It's something to chew on anyway.

The Little Things is streaming on HBO Max now. You've seen it all before but Denzel keeps it afloat.