The Little Things Review – You Should Have Listened to That One Little Feeling

The Little Things is a straightforward crime thriller with a great cast and a decent mystery

What Happens in The Little Things?

The Little Things follows the story of Joe Deacon and Jimmy Baxter as they track down a killer with interesting motives and methods. 5 years before the events of the movie, Deacon had stumbled into a murder similar to the one during present times. In the past, he worked himself to the point of failing health and marriage. After leaving his original town, Deacon returns and finds Baxter, who was essentially his replacement. Together, the pair work together to catch the criminal who had a similar kill pattern to the one 5 years ago.

Who Are The Characters in The Little Things?

Joe “ Deke” Deacon is our protagonist and he is a deputy in Kern County. Once a homicide detective in Los Angeles Deke loses everything when he fails to solve a triple homicide which eventually costs him his job and family. Deke is a smart detective who always looks for the little details as he tries to solve the case. Jimmy Baxter is a detective at LAPD who’s been stumped by a series of dead girls who have been found. Jimmy is a good detective but his arrogance and confidence can be a detractor towards his skill.

The Little Things Review

This movie was exactly what I hoped and expected it to be for better or for worse. I enjoy crime thrillers and this film definitely falls into that category. The first thing that I appreciated about this film was that it had a stellar cast with Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto giving great performances. Each character is well written and given a deep enough character to make them feel real from grizzled old Deke to creepy and weird Sparma. 

This film draws from many other detective thriller films in terms of its tone and its atmosphere, which is again something I enjoy. The mystery that is presented has its pros and cons with the mystery itself being intriguing. I wanted to know what happened and was trying to solve it throughout.

Its failure comes with the execution of the mystery and the answer to our question proves to be unsatisfactory. While I complimented the homages to old crime thrillers, one of my problems with the film is that nothing feels new or original. This film feels like a combination of many similar movies and TV shows that this film takes elements from to make it better.

My other criticism lies in the way the film divulges information. This film tends to just tell the audience all the information instead of showing us or coming up with other more creative ways to give the audience hints of what’s happening. Honestly, I still like this movie for the most part because I was intrigued by the movie and was excited for the mystery to be solved, but its ending left me disappointed.

All in all, The Little Things is a straightforward crime thriller with a great cast and a decent mystery that does have its failings. I would still recommend it if you’re looking for a modernized version of one of those crime thrillers.