Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Deputy Sheriff Joe "Deke" Deacon joins forces with Sgt. Jim Baxter to search for a serial killer who's terrorizing Los Angeles. As they track the culprit, Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deke's past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case.
The Little Things is a slow-burn neo-noir that leans heavily on atmosphere and its cast but stumbles significantly in execution. The plot borrows liberally from Se7en and other 90s-era serial killer procedurals without adding much new — the mystery meanders and the central tension never fully ignites. The acting is the film's strongest asset, with Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto all delivering committed performances, though Leto's quirky suspect work is divisive. Cinematography is competent and appropriately gloomy, capturing 1990s LA with a muted, grimy palette, but rarely rises to memorable visual storytelling. Novelty is low — the film retreads familiar ground in the serial killer procedural genre with little to distinguish its conception or voice. The ending is the film's most criticized element: deliberately ambiguous and intentionally unsatisfying, it leaves key questions unresolved in a way that many found frustrating rather than thought-provoking, undermining the investment built across the runtime.