Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Writer/director: John Lee Hancock, Netflix.
Academy Award-winners Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto lead an all-star cast in this neo-noir crime film set in early 1990s Los Angeles.
We follow Joe ‘Deke’ Deacon (Washington, Glory, Training Day), a Kern County Deputy Sheriff. Deacon is a former Los Angeles Sheriff’s detective. Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody, Mr Robot) plays LASD Detective Jim Baxter. Together they investigate a string of murders, which lead them to a odd loner who may be the culprit Albert Sparma (Leto, Urban Legend, Requiem for a Dream).
One night in 1990, a motorist stalks a girl driving on a highway. After she stops at an abandoned gas station, she catches the attention of a passing truck driver and escapes her pursuer. A woman named Ronda Rathbun is followed by a car while jogging and is reported missing the following morning.
We meet Deacon in Bakersfield. He has been sent to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to collect evidence pertaining to a recent murder and accompanies Baxter to the scene of a new murder in LA. This is where Deacon notices similarities between the methods used in this killing and an old serial murder case that he was unable to solve. We also learn Deke has a failed marriage, had a heart attack and had to leave town.
At first there’s friction between the pair, but it’s not long before they work in earnest to try and solve the case that’s terrifying the city. The cat-and-mouse game is then on between the two detectives and the disturbing character who appears to take delight in playing games with law enforcement.
Reminiscent of old school films like Se7en, The Little Things survives due to the instancy of Washington’s performance, his ability to ‘pick up on the little clues’, while Malek appears to be uncorrupted by the pessimism and vitriol that surrounds him.
