The Little Things

Director: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto, Chris Bauer, Michael Hyatt, Terry Kinney, Natalie Morales, Isabel Arraiza, Glenn Morshower, Lee Garlington
Distributor: Universal Pictures International
Runtime: 127 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2021

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Rating notes: Mature themes, violence, coarse language and nudity

The Little Things refers, of course, to attention to detail. However, the choice of the word little, has overtones of a certain daintiness in detail. Not exactly the case here.

Over the past decade and more, audiences have become accustomed to seeing Denzel Washington as an action hero – in the West, in the gangster world, in police enforcement. This is police enforcement.

We know we are in sure hands when we see the reliable Denzel as Joe ‘Deke’ Deacon, serving in the Californian country community, going to Los Angeles to pick up evidence for a case. Actually, as you might expect, he has a history in Los Angeles, a top detective, but disappointed in a case, considering it a failure, his subsequent resignation, divorce, and move out of the city. But, he still has his instincts.

He meets friends in LA, revisits old haunts, making his base a seedy flophouse but is somewhat intrigued by a rather dapper young detective giving press conferences on the murders of women, which may be tied to a serial killer. The young detective, Jimmy Baxter, has Rami Malek moving on from award-success with Freddie Mercury (Bohemian Rhapsody, 2018) and Bond villain Safin in the upcoming No Time to Die. Given the different styles of the two men ­– the older loner and the younger a family man with wife and children – it seems unlikely at first that they will come together, but of course they do, and so begins a practical apprenticeship.

Deke is shrewd, works behind the scenes, investigates where most would not think to search. Then, as soon as we see him, there is the potential villain, Albert Sparma (Leto) with his penetrating eyes, suspicious, sinister…

Which means that a lot of the action of the film is cat and mouse work, Sparma being shrewd and manipulative. Eventually, of course, wild and confrontational.

However, there are some unexpected revelations at the end of the film. We learn more about Deke and his past career, his work, his collaboration with the authorities in LA after a fatal shooting and come to understand the motivations for his actions.

While there is a great deal of action for action fans, there is an underlying human drama, played with seasoned experience by Denzel Washington and some ingenuous naivete by Rami Malek.

Peter Malone MSC