THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The Little Things was first written as a script in 1993, but never got off the ground until it was finally picked up into production in 2019. Was it worth the wait? I'm not so sure.
PLOT
The 2021 film takes place in 1990 and follows John 'Deke' Deacon, a Kern County deputy sheriff who gets assigned by LA County Sheriff's Department to collect evidence pertaining a recent murder. Upon arrival, he accompanies the new lead detective Jimmy Baxter. Looking at the crime scene at night, Deke finds a resemblance of a case he was unable to solve. At that point of his career, he suffered a heart attack due to his obsession of it, resulting to his divorce. The following morning, a woman named Ronda Rathbun is reported missing, as she was followed at night when jogging. When advised to get anymore involved, Deke takes vacation leave to continue assisting Baxter. When another dead body is found, it is believed that the killer's MO to be consistent with the recent killings. Deke decides to investigates repairman Albert Sparma, whose workplace is within the proximity of the crimes. One day, he tries to tail him but that plan was thwarted as when he tails him in return. He is brought in for questioning, only to taunt the detectives while under interrogation. He is only let go in the process when provoking Deke. Baxter is informed by his captain Carl Farris (Terry Kinney) that he has less time on his hands to crack the case because the FBI will intervene within a week. He is also told that Sparma is unreliable as a suspect because he once falsely confessed to a murder he was miles away from, proof of his obsession with crime. The matter of justice is taken into his own hands as he and Deke do an illegal search in the suspect's house when he is not present. However, he is a step ahead because he calls in an 'officer down' at his address, resulting in Deke leaving as he as he could unnoticed. Just as the police arrive, Baxter notices Sparma watch the ordeal, knowing that this was somehow his doing. The next day, the two protagonists plan to tail him again. They follow him from a fast food joint, to a strip club, back to his home. When Deke gets coffee, Baxter notices Sparma leave the house and attempts to confront him on his own. He demands the location of Rathbun and Sparma offers to drive him to the location of her body, which he quickly accepts. Deke quickly catches up and follows Sparma when noticing from a distance they were leaving in the same car. They arrive at a remote, deserted area and Sparma convinces Baxter to dig up holes, hoping to find the body. As this happens, he claims that he never took a life, but the detective doesn't believe him and continues digging. He ends up killing him by hitting him with a shovel after threatening his family. Just as Deke arrives, we see a flashback that reveals him to have accidentally shot a survivor of his last murder case, resulting him to cover it up with help of his partner at the time Farris and the coroner Flo Dunnigan (Michael Hyatt). Returning to the film's present, he insists Baxter to bury Sparma and forget about the case, knowing it will haunt him if he does, despite the detective's determination to get a legitimate answer. Some time after this, Baxter gets an envelope by Deke to his home, that contained a red barrette similar to one Rathbun wore the night she went missing. The film ends with Deke burning Sparma's belongings, along with a four pack of barrettes that's missing a red one.
THOUGHTS
To think that this film would deliver as a plot like this would sound good on paper, but this is sadly not the case. I have a hard time enjoying this film because John Lee Hancock was going for something special but the execution is not perfect. If only this film had came out the time it was first written and get re-written, maybe someone would've done it right. There are stuff that I did enjoy but there were way too many things during the story that I just couldn't roll with. I love the opening of how the young woman is able to run away from the suspected killer, but I don't like how it has to tie into the actual story. If you want to be clever on an attempt to build up who did it, don't force a connection between the plot lines. If we weren't gonna get an answer on if it's Albert or not, it should've not made the cut. I respect people's confidence on jogging alone at night, but this is 1990, no one should ever be doing such a thing after surviving the Night Stalker era. So when seeing Rathbun turn down her friend jogging with her to her home was infuriating. While it is a surprise that many deaths occurred during the night Mary Roberts died, the one Deke accidentally killed, how has Baxter not known of it? If he knew of her death for so long, I have a hard time believing he didn't notice such a fact. The pacing picks up when Albert meets Deke for the first time, but I cringe on how we see his face just as the protagonist leaves the repair shop. It would've been special if we waited just until the car confrontation. I also love that said scene but I find it unwise for Deke to scout the car's mileage when Albert was home. We may not be sure if he's the one to go after but it wasn't smart to do overall because it could've been worse. It is crazy how smart Albert was when calling an 'officer down' at his favorite bar, but how come no one overheard his call? It looked like a lot of people were in that spot, so even that is hard to believe that no one heard him. If there is anything I hated about the ending, it is on two ends. One, Baxter should've cuffed Albert and waited for Deke. And two, Albert was dumb instigating with the detective because he knew what he was doing and it cost him his life. Even if he really isn't a killer, it was so dumb of him. However, if you can somehow ignore these flaws, then there is high certainty that you'll enjoy this movie for what it's trying to be. The reason why this movie can be interesting to watch is because of how the symbolism of angels flows through good character driven performances. The legendary Denzel Washington's portrayal of Joe Deacon is definitely a unique depiction of an angel that failed to protect the innocent, which is how he envisions officers like himself. And for the rest of his life, his mistake made him sick inside but these turn of events are supposed to be an act of redemption. He does find a way to be redeemed because he is looking out for Baxter at the end. He clearly bought the set of barrettes and passed a red one to him because he doesn't want him to go through such grief like he did, taking the pain away in the process. Speaking of Jimmy Baxter, Rami Malek is good here with the said role because in a way, he is Deke from the past because happy with his life and proud of what he does, until his turn of events hit his emotions like a truck. With the belief that Sparma did it after being sent the barrette, he can be at peace with himself that there is one less monster in the world. Last but not least, Jared Leto is the biggest highlight of this movie because is so good at being so creepy with the role of Albert Sparma. He is more disturbing than one would think because he knows that he brings an uncomfortable presence wherever he goes. This guy likes to be at least thought of as a killer because that is how infatuated he is with crime. The guy even had books about serial killers like Flic Story. Because of this, he just wants to be the center of attention for situations like this and he was enjoying every bit of it. There are so many signs that he could be the killer, but they are all circumstantial which is why we might never know if he really got what he deserved. The only other reason he couldn't be the one because there was still the same one from the beginning who has no resemblance to the suspect. In short, The Little Things is a movie that can be entertaining but tries way too hard to be special. If you like crime thrillers, than maybe this one will be up your alley.
Comments