The Little Things
“You wonder if all this watching, waiting, living in another man’s shadow is a waste of time”
Deke
Summary:
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.
Characters:
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.
Austin: 8.0/10
The Little Things is a good movie, with solid acting and a pretty decent plot. It looks great on paper, and the trailer paints it as an intense thriller. And at points it was. But at many other points, it wasn’t, not even slightly.
The characters are actually pretty well written and the development of our two main protagonists is huge. We see a really strong bond grow between our main characters, and their identities build off each other. It makes for some really good interactions between characters, but there are times the dialog feels dry. For a thriller movie, the slow development of some conversations takes away from the entire vibe of the scene. The use of fluff characters to keep the viewer unsure of who’s the killer is a good touch to some mediocre characters.
The plot is very interesting, but this was a miss. I shouldn’t be bored during a movie surrounding the investigation of a serial killer paired with some awesome actors, but I was. Not the entire movie mind you, but there are points where my attention lagged off. The plot has a few holes, but that keeps your mind working to crack the case before Deke and Jim. This plot doesn’t hang on the characters, and it moves on its own but the entrance and exit of different suspects or potential killers left me uncertain of the killer for the whole movie. I was sure it was one character for a while, then switched, switched back, and then I had absolutely no idea. Personally, I didn’t mind that this plot jumps around because I’d rather be a little bit confused and forced to think than watching a predictable movie. Keeps things exciting and I wish they could have kept that energy for the entirety of the movie. The ending is really good, with some lacking moments in between.
The Little Things feels like missed potential on a big scale. Those occasional scenes that were bone dry or really boring made this a harder movie to watch than it should have been. Overall still a decent movie, but with this cast and story, it should have been a lot better.
Sebastian: 8.0/10
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 the grizzled old Deke to the 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 and I wanted to know what happened and was trying to solve it throughout. Its failing comes with the execution of the mystery film-wise 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 as this film tends to for the most part 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 this movie for the majority of the runtime and was excited for the mystery to be solved though its ending left me disappointed.
All in all, this is a straightforward crime thriller with a great cast and a decent mystery that does have its failings but I would still recommend it if you’re looking for a modernized version of one of those crime thrillers so pop it on and check it out.
Nathanyal: 7.5/10
The Little Things is an interesting movie to review. Overall, this movie had an interesting premise, but was pretty boring. Being a 2-hour long movie, this works against the movie, as it was a pain to sit through. The end of the movie, however, does pick up the pace a bit, but doesn’t really change it all too much. This effect also plays into the pacing of the plot. This movie features some weird places to cut back to flashbacks and there were instances where I wasn’t sure where I was anymore. The characters are pretty interesting. Deacon has an interesting backstory, and it was nice to see Jimmy change and reveal more as the movie progressed. The crime aspect of the movie was also pretty entertaining to watch. It was nice watching the characters piece together the crime and to narrow into their suspect. I also enjoyed the themes of watching for the little things.
Overall, this movie was alright. It has some good concepts, but it takes a while for them to develop. For those into crime movies, this may be for you, but just be wary of that long runtime and slow progression.
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