‘The Little Things’ is a latest offering of HBO Max with an amazing lineup of casts, which forcefully takes you to the 90s without any remorse whatsoever.

The film that originally intended to release in pre-pandemic era, in theatres – a concept that changed so dramatically after a dreadful year – seems as old-fashioned as the movie’s premise.

For the record: the movie is on HBO Max for only a month before it vanishes from the platform for some time.

Written and directed by John Lee Hancock switches from his joyful vibes of his popular projects (Saving Mr. Banks, The Blind Side and The Rookie) to wilderness, with Rami Malek, Denzel Washington and Jared Leto getting aboard with him this time. Obviously, a threesome of Oscar-winner actors won’t necessarily make this movie a worthy watch, so we need to see if it’s really going to live up to our expectations.

The Little Things: Skip it or Stream it?

Takes place in the 1990s, the film opens with an interesting adrenaline-filled sequence where a young woman drives alone on a dark road as a mysterious car tries to chase her. Considering the circumstances, the girl makes some stupid decision – stops the car and decides to flee on legs. She asks for help but nobody stops, except a truck, hence, her life is saved. And what about that mysterious person? Well, we only gotta see his shoes….

Fast forward: there’s a serial killer on the loose in Los Angeles, who is on a killing rampage of women (more particularly prostitutes) and two grumpy-looking detectives are on his tale…

By this time, you might wondering if you’re watching a classic 1995’s Seven, or Zodiac or Manhunter? Well, honestly, the film looks like a mix of all these classic movies…

In what feels like a sequel of the classical 90s serial killer movies but it actually has an original plot; “Deke” deputy sheriff (Denzel Washington) finds himself inevitably attracted to a case which he should not be involved in the first place (considering his age) with another deputy sheriff Jimmy (Rami Malek). The story progresses with an unsolved case from Deke’s past including a mysterious stranger (Jared Leto) who they consider to be their main suspect.

If this movie had been released back in the era which it portrays, it would have been worked well. But at a time when even TV-movies have a couple of detectives who are more inclined towards solving their mysterious past instead of solving a current case, it feels too worn-out, used, familiar and uninteresting. As a gruesome serial killer thriller, it feels so boring and as a slow, character-driven drama, it feels too confusing. Apparently, for whom this movie was for is a bigger mystery than the person it focuses.

Denzel Washington, a man who can put a spark even to the boring of content, could not even save this movie from feeling so dull. Jared, on the other hand, totally nailed his character. He was portraying a pale, greasy long-haired suspect Sparma, who introduced to us well past the halfway point and, frankly, his remarkable performance saves the movie from being a trash!

His never-blinking facial expressions along with hilariously twisted one-liners, he was an absolute bad ass in the movie.

Our favorite scene is an interrogation room where Baxter and Deacon try to take out the confession from Sparma. The scene eventually ends up with Deacon losing his mind because of Sparma’s unconventional attitude.

Fans take:

Final verdict: Stream it! The Little Things borrows most of the stuff from same-old sloppy cops’ drama.  Is it a bad thing? Definitely not! In fact, if you’re in mood for serial-killer thriller and want to watch something that keeps you hooked till the end, then this movie should be the next thing in your watch-list. For those who particularly enjoy guessing who the serial killer is and have the stomach to digest gruesome murders and bloody dead bodies will probably enjoy watching it more. Besides, the movie stars Denzel Washington, Jared Leto and Rami Malek, what more do you want?

Watch the trailer here:

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