THE LITTLE THINGS : Tuesday 23rd February 2021.

'THE LITTLE THINGS' which I saw at my local independent movie theatre earlier this week is an M Rated American crime thriller Directed, Written and Co-Produced by John Lee Hancock who previous film making outings include 'The Rookie', 'The Alamo', 'The Blind Side', 'Saving Mr. Banks', 'The Founder' and 'The Highwaymen'. The first draft was written by Hancock in 1993 for Steven Spielberg to Direct, but he passed up the project before Clint Eastwood, Warren Beatty, and Danny DeVito who were also separately attached to Direct before Hancock decided to take the helm of his own screenplay. The film cost US$30M to make, has so far generated mixed or average Reviews and has recouped US$21M of that initial budget investment since its release Stateside at the end of January, as well as a month-long simultaneous release on the HBO Max streaming service.

Sometime in 1990 a young woman is driving down a deserted highway at night, with the radio blasting. There is nothing in front of her or behind her. Then a set of headlights appear in the distance behind her that quickly catches-up with her own vehicle. She is panicked as the driver of the vehicle pulls up beside her and drives menacingly along side her for a moment or two, before speeding off into the distance. Further down the road she passes the same vehicle parked up. She accelerates past the stationery car in an attempt to put as much distance between her and it as she can. She pulls up a roadside service station, hurriedly jumps out of the car leaving the car door wide open, the engine running and the radio blasting away. She frantically knocks on the door and windows but the place is firmly locked up and there is no one in attendance. The other vehicle that was seemingly stalking her, pulls up, and out gets a man who rummages through the boot of his car retrieving a roll of gaffa tape and a bag of various implements and gives chase. She is forced to run through the desert scrubland attempting to escape and eventually grabs the attention of a passing truck driver, so evading her pursuer.

Later in Bakersfield, Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe 'Deke' Deacon (Denzel Washington) is ordered by his Captain, Henry Davis (Glenn Morshower) to visit the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to collect evidence pertaining to a recent murder. He is initially reluctant, but is ordered to do so. Deacon, a former L.A. Sheriff's Detective, joins recently appointed lead Detective Jimmy Baxter (Rami Malek) to the scene of a new murder in L.A. At the crime scene, Deacon observes certain similarities between the methods used in this killing with those used in an old serial murder case he was unable to solve some five years prior. In the meantime, Baxter has learned from the precinct's Captain, Carl Farris (Terry Kinney), that due to Deacon's obsession with the unsolved case, this resulted in him getting divorced and suffering a massive heart attack, after which he relocated to Kern County and took a Deputy's job. Baxter is advised not to involve him any further, but Deacon takes vacation leave to assist in solving his case.

A few nights later, a woman, named Ronda Rathbun (Maya Kazan), is followed by a car while jogging and is reported missing the next morning. The following night, the Police discover the body of another victim washed up under a bridge. She has been dead in the water for some days and the body is identified as not being that of Ronda Rathbun. Baxter learns from Deacon that the method used in the killing is consistent with the earlier murder of a few days prior and previous killings of five years ago in as much that the victims were all prostitutes stabbed to death repeatedly, with white plastic bags placed over their heads. Deacon begins investigating Albert Sparma (Jared Leto), a suspect working at a repair store in proximity to the murders. Deacon tails Sparma up and down the freeway in a game of cat and mouse but is thwarted, so he brings Sparma in for questioning. Sparma taunts the detectives while being questioned, and is released after provoking Deacon into a fit of rage. 

Because the search for a multiple killer has flagged no reliable leads, the FBI is called in to take charge of the investigation at the start of the following week, giving Deacon and Baxter just two days to conduct further investigations unhindered. Farris advises Baxter that eight years earlier, Sparma confessed to a murder which he couldn't have committed since he was ten miles away from it at the time. Additionally, he's obsessed with crime and is therefore an unreliable suspect. Baxter calls Sparma and extends an olive branch for Deacon's behaviour earlier that day, by offering an invitation to meet at a bar for a drink as a peace offering. As Sparma leaves his apartment for the bar, Deacon enters Sparma’s apartment and conducts an illegal search, with Baxter keeping watch from the car parked outside. As Deacon searches the apartment, a Police radio goes off and he escapes from Sparma’s home after Sparma called in an 'officer down' at his apartment. Police arrive and Deacon escapes by climbing onto the roof, while Baxter observes Sparma watching the ordeal unfold. 

After an unsuccessful search of Sparma's apartment the two detectives tail Sparma to a strip club and back home again the following night. When Deacon leaves the car to get some refreshments from a convenience store down the road, Baxter corners Sparma alone and demands to know Rathbun's location. Sparma relents and offers to drive him to where he supposedly hid Rathbun's body, and Baxter cautiously agrees while Deacon trails them.

Sparma drives Baxter to a remote area out in the desert and well off the highway, and has him dig up a number of holes before admitting that he never killed anyone. Baxter is not convinced, and continues to dig away in the dark of night. Sparma begins to taunt him, until Baxter snaps and strikes him swiftly on the head with a shovel, killing him outright instantly. As Deacon arrives, a flashback reveals that he accidentally shot one of the survivors of his last unsolved murder case, and that Farris and Flo Dunigan (Charlene Hyatt), the Coroner, helped cover it up. Deacon instructs Baxter to bury Sparma in the desert and then drives off telling him that he'll return in a few hours. Deacon spends the rest of the night collecting everything in Sparma's apartment, bagging it up and then returns to the desert the following morning to find that Baxter has not yet buried Sparma and is still searching for Rathbun. Baxter is desperate to believe Sparma is the killer, hoping it will clear his conscience and close the case. After burying Sparma and filling back in all the holes dug by Baxter, Deacon advises him to forget about the case or it will haunt him for life.

Later, at his home, having taken two weeks of leave and after the FBI have taken on the case, Baxter receives an envelope sent by Deacon, containing a red hair clip like the one Ronda Rathbun was wearing when she was abducted. Back in Kern County, Deacon burns everything he collected in Sparma's apartment, together with a brand new four-pack of hair clips that is missing a red one.

'The Little Things' as Deacon comments to Baxter are what's important, and 'its the little things that get you caught' in this by the numbers, procedural serial killer thriller. This is fairly predictable fare that we have seen done hundreds of times before, and especially during the late '80's and '90's when this film is set and the first draft of this movie was in fact written, and it shows in the all too familiar story line, the plot twists and turns and the world weary (male) cops battling their own inner demons while chasing down a serial killer of helpless and hapless females. Denzel Washington carries the weight of this film firmly on his shoulders once again, while Remi Malek looks dazed and confused in the presence of the two time Oscar winner, and Jared Leto who appears half way through the film is never out of his grey work handyman uniform even when he visits the strip joint, or late at night, or early in the morning or when he is hauled into the cop shop for questioning. Surely he must own a pair of jeans and a T-shirt at least! After a promising first act, the film meanders in the second and falls flat with an underwhelming ending that hurries to get to the finish line and tie all the loose ends together. Credit though to John Lee Hancock for getting three Academy Award winning Actors together on the big screen, and for helming a film that has the look and feel of it having been made in the '90's, as dated as this may seem, and perhaps that was his rationale. For his performance, Leto received Best Supporting Actor nominations at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards . . . although I must say, I can't think why!

'The Little Things' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-