By Paul Hall
It doesn’t matter whether you are a criminal or the detective hunting the individual down: The little things make a big difference. You know, the details that may include a color of car, style of boots or brand of beer. They can help you solve the case or get away forever. In the new film The Little Things, we see just how vital those details may be.
Joe Deacon (Denzel Washington) — better known as Deke to friends and coworkers — heads to Los Angeles to pick up evidence. Deke is now working in Kern County, California, away from the bright lights of the big city. He was thought of as one of the best in L.A. before he left as personal and professional demons seemed to get the best of him.
Back in his old stomping grounds, Deke unceremoniously meets Jim Baxter (Rami Malek), the new lead detective garnering all the media attention with a serial killer case on his agenda. As Jim’s colleagues inform him, Deke is someone with attention to detail and the uncanny ability to crack even the toughest of cases. The two will work together to attempt to solve the case.
In this tale that goes into the seedy underbelly of early ’90s Los Angeles, we are gifted with watching a trio of amazing actors work. Washington, who easily impresses with everything he does, plays a totally different role as Deke in The Little Things. He gives a performance that is uniquely positioned and forces you to not view him in simplistic, good-guy terms. He’s conflicted and driven by the conflict that is deep within. We want him to succeed, but we just don’t know at what.
Malek joins Washington as the new guy on the block who still has the perfect family and perfect life with the media hanging on his every word. He’s the new school to Washington’s old school and the two are able to bring their characters’ differences together in the film.
The third acclaimed actor leading this cast is Jared Leto, who plays a character I hesitate to mention until now as he needs to be discovered by each individual at their own pace. Rest assured, the certainty of who you think Leto is performing just might be a performance of his character and the actor himself instead of reality, and that is just a phenomenal thing to see.
The three actors drive this cat-and-mouse project from director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks) to a satisfying conclusion that proves that not all films need to give you everything on a silver platter.
I found the journey quite satisfying and the road filled with the right amount of potholes that I strapped in and took the ride. Watching talented actors work is always satisfying and The Little Things will leave you talking for hours about the film you witnessed and counting the minutes until you experience it again. It is, after all, the little things that make a big difference.
Paul’s Grade: B
The Little Things
Rated R
Stars: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Director: John Lee Hancock