Denzel Washington plays a haunted detective in The Little Things, a 2021 neo-noir crime thriller that wants to be a slow-burn character study and a tense chase movie. It mostly succeeds at one and fails at the other.
Trailer, via Warner Bros..
Deke Deacon’s Burden
Washington plays Joe “Deke” Deacon, a former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detective who left the force after a case went wrong. Now he’s a Kern County deputy sheriff, but he can’t stop thinking about the serial killer he couldn’t catch. When a new series of prostitute murders breaks out in L.A., newly appointed lead detective Jim Baxter calls him in for help.
The setup works because Washington sells the weight of Deke’s past. His face tells you everything: the exhaustion, the guilt, the obsessive need to finally close the door on this case. The script, written by director John Lee Hancock, gives him room to breathe, and he fills it with a performance that anchors the whole film.
Rami Malek plays Baxter as a younger, more driven officer who doesn’t know what he’s walking into. Their partnership is the film’s engine, and the tension between them — Baxter’s need to solve the case versus Deke’s need to relive the old one — gives the story its shape. The problem is that the script doesn’t trust this dynamic enough.
Jared Leto’s Quiet Threat
Jared Leto plays Albert Sparma, a repair shop worker who fits the profile of the killer. The film spends a lot of time circling around him, tailing him, questioning him, and letting him get away. Sparma taunts the detectives during interrogation and is released after provoking Deacon into an angry outburst.
Leto’s performance is the best thing in the film. He plays Sparma as a quiet, unsettling presence, a man who knows he’s being hunted and isn’t afraid to toy with the hunters. The role is small but crucial, and Leto makes it feel larger than it is. His work earned him Golden Globe and SAG nominations for Best Supporting Actor.
What Holds It Back
The screenplay is the weak link. The story is thin, and the mystery drags for stretches where nothing happens except people talking about what happened. Baxter remains largely a blank slate, a competent cop who exists to push Deke toward his demons.
The film also struggles with pacing. It runs 128 minutes, and the runtime feels longer than that. There are scenes where the investigation stalls, where characters repeat information they’ve already said, and where the tension dips instead of building. The chase scenes, when they arrive, are effective, but they’re few and far between.
The supporting cast does solid work. Chris Bauer as Detective Sal Rizoli and Michael Hyatt as Flo Dunigan add texture to the L.A.P.D. side of the investigation. Terry Kinney as LASD Captain Carl Farris and Natalie Morales as Detective Jamie Estrada round out the procedural details. The young victims are played by Sofia Vassilieva as Tina Salvatore, Maya Kazan as Ronda Rathbun, Anna McKitrick as Mary Roberts, Sheila Houlahan as Paige Callahan, and Ebony N. Mayo as Tamara Ewing.
None of them are given enough to do. The film is so focused on Deke and Baxter that everyone else fades into background noise.
A Mixed Legacy
The Little Things was released in the United States on January 29, 2021, by Warner Bros. Pictures, both theatrically and on the HBO Max streaming service. It grossed $30.8 million worldwide against its $30 million production budget.
The film received mixed reviews from critics. The praise centered on the cast, especially Washington and Leto. The criticism landed on the screenplay, which critics felt lacked depth and momentum.
Here’s how the reception broke down:
- Cast: Praised across the board, especially Washington and Leto
- Screenplay: Criticized for thin plotting and slow pacing
- Direction: Solid but unremarkable, a safe middle ground
- Performances: Consistently strong, particularly in the lead roles
The Final Word
The Little Things is a film that understands its central tragedy better than it understands its own story. Washington gives a career-best performance as a man destroyed by his own obsession, and Leto matches him beat for beat as the killer who toys with him. The rest of the film — the case, the investigation, the chase — never quite catches up.
It’s a flawed but watchable thriller that rewards patience in the performances and punishes it in the plotting. The result is a film that’s more interesting in memory than in the moment.
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