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Denzel Washington is a brood and brood master. Rami Malek has a chameleonic presence that allows him to transform the mood of a scene via barely noticeable changes like the play of his jaw or a smirk. And Jared Leto is very good at bringing up the cartoonish side of the scary.
Taken separately, each actor has a way to improve the work they find themselves in. Put them together and you better hope the script can handle whatever they’ve posted.
John Lee Hancock’s thriller ‘The Little Things’ from the 1990s is not up to the task despite everyone giving it their best shot, especially Washington, for whom the film represents a homecoming. familiar to legislators. While the roles that made Washington one of the best actors of his generation are serious biographical pieces – “Glory”, “Malcolm X”, “The Hurricane” – it’s his job as a cop on “Training Day” Of 2001 which ultimately won him the Oscar for Best Actor.
After that came major action roles like “Man on Fire” and “The Equalizer” which cemented him as a major star. Washington’s recent emphasis has been on theater and pieces adapted for the screen, which makes this West Coast noir thriller a throwback for it.
As Oscar-winning Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Mr. Robot”) and Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”) share the screen with Washington, the story is very clearly built for him and his ability. unmatched to work on hell. silence and pauses. Even so, his character Joe Deacon is a departure from the other silent men Washington has embodied, characters whose deliberate quietness serves as a key box holding secrets and hiding talents.
Deke, as he’s known, is a man who hides in a past that gnaws at him by donning the Kern County Deputy Sheriff’s uniform. From the moment he appears it is evident that he is too good for the job, and soon we get a bit of the story of one of his old colleagues in Los Angeles, where he was the big cheese of the local homicide team.
Something went horribly wrong at the time, causing his career, marriage and health to implode within six months. “A rush hour train wreck,” says one of his former partners in warning to new hot shot Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) who spots Deke while he’s in town for an errand and l ‘invites you to consult a case he is working on. Jim knows Deke by his reputation and he thinks he can use his help in what appears to be a serial killer case.
Since Deke is employed elsewhere, Jim does not fear losing his job in the department; Plus, with all the warnings coming from Jim from superiors and coworkers, it’s not like anyone is chipping away at Deke to come back in force.
Hancock (“The Blind Side”, “The Founder”) wrote and directed “The Little Things”, and visually he nails the tone of ’90s black LA and the air of unease present in the most authoritative films. known from the work as Curtis Hanson and David Fincher. But this familiarity has its advantages and disadvantages.
After a wary back and forth, the two men fall into a rhythm recognizable to the devourers of the serial killer film set of that time. And once Leto’s Albert Sparma makes history, the entire scene takes a turn for the aggressive wacky. Sparma is a blue collar with peculiar manners who rubs Deke the wrong way, transforming him from a silent clue hunter battling the urge to pick up a long cold affair into a crumpled and haunted crusader.
Jim, supposedly more by-the-book than Deke and described as a hell of a roller at it, gradually surrenders to the gravitational pull of Deke’s obsession. Everyone makes decisions that don’t make sense to get to an outcome that you might have a hard time caring about.
Following “The Little Things” requires a significant amount of patience and a broad interpretation of the term “slow burn”. Washington and Malek’s performances are initially strong enough to hold our attention, and as mentioned earlier, they are both adept at playing the lead in whatever situation they find themselves in. But there comes a time when all their strenuous efforts fail. make up for poor script. Leto’s discretion doesn’t help matters.
I hesitated for a long time in front of films which draw their titles from a supposedly definitive line of a character. It sounds hacky, on the one hand, and it shakes us up by the collar, pulling us out of the narrative flow. Washington loads the title line with omen and melancholy as he delivers it, and it still seems trite. That’s the nature of small annoyances, I guess; a hike to the world’s most beautiful view can be ruined by a small pebble in your trunk.
Holding back this movie is something more meaningful, a flabby script written around a half-decent premise that some of the best actors working right now can sell in moments, but not as a whole. Hancock pulled off the casting, and the score, soundtrack, and little details are sure to bring Gen X moviegoers back to their prime. But without this major and vital structure element in place “The Little Things” is a rocky mystery that never fully comes together.
“The Little Things” is currently airing on HBO Max.
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