Story

The Little Things reminds me of two (2) other things I’ve seen: David Fincher’s 1995 classic Seven (SE7EN) and season 1 of True Detective. While this film shares several plot elements that occur in both, what it does differently is how brazenly the primary suspect interacts with the detectives following him.

Towards the end of the the film, I was concerned that it might end up just cribbing directly from Seven, but I was happy to see it went it’s own way. The ambiguity of the ending made for a very interesting, albeit slightly unsatisfying, conclusion.

Sight

The visuals were ambiguous and underwhelming. I think it would’ve benefited from a stronger atmosphere (I had actually mistakenly thought the plot took place during the 70s and didn’t really see much that would’ve said otherwise).

I go back and forth on Jared Leto. I thought he was excellent in Lord of War, Mr. Nobody, and The Outsider. Yet, I found him incredibly offputting and pretentious in The Suicide Squad and Morbius (Note: I didn’t bother to watch the latter as a result of the trailer). And here in The Little Things, I found myself enjoying his portrayal above the others. Of particular note was the way he walks in the movie. There’s just something off that he brings to the character that comes through in such a great way.

Denzel, for his part, is excellent (albeit a big reminiscence of his character in The Equalizer) and brings through the haunted past of his character. Rami was a bit clunky in the first act; I actually wasn’t sure about his role, but it smoothed out as the story progressed.

Sound

The soundtrack really stood out to me and provided a major boost to the story for me. Most movies in this genre seem to have heavy, tonal soundtracks, but the light yet slow cadence of the score stood out to me as a major positive.

Conclusion

I generally enjoyed this, and while I wouldn’t want a sequel – there’s nowhere left to go with the story without wrecking the conclusion of this one – I found the performances good enough that I would watch it again.

Rating

★★