The Devil in the Details: A Nostalgic but Ultimately Disappointing Crime Thriller
Dick (Denzel Washington), haunted by a past incident, has retreated from his detective work and spent the last five years as a uniformed police officer. However, a string of disturbingly similar murders of young women pulls him back into the fray. He teams up with a younger, more zealous investigator, Jimmy (Rami Malek), and their investigation leads them to a sinister mechanic (Jared Leto) who seems to be perpetually one step ahead.
There’s a certain comfort in nostalgia. In society, revisiting the past – whether through childhood memories or retro trends – is often cherished. While many things can be restricted, the allure of escapism and a “lost world” is something people will fiercely defend. Cinema has been heavily reliant on nostalgia for at least two decades, reworking, capitalizing on, and protecting it with fervent dedication. Disney revitalizes its vast library of animated and live-action classics, Warner Bros. greenlights sequels like “The Matrix” and revives “Dune,” and Netflix and Amazon anticipate audience desires with uncanny accuracy, constantly adding new flavors to their original content. Remakes are no longer frowned upon; they’re accepted as a necessary evil, fulfilling their mission and generating substantial profits. But this trend has its limits.
Rami Malek as Detective Baxter in “The Little Things”
It’s unlikely that John Lee Hancock, the director of “The Little Things,” intended to revolutionize one of cinema’s most popular genres – the suspenseful crime thriller, filled with twists, turns, and red herrings. Everything, from Fritz Lang’s “M” to David Fincher’s dark “Se7en” and the more subtle “Zodiac,” and even Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners,” has already been done. Hancock fails to achieve the difficult task of making a fresh contribution, instead delivering a film that feels tired and uninspired.
A Script Decades in the Making
In 1993, a relatively unknown Hancock wrote the script for “The Little Things” with Steven Spielberg in mind. Spielberg declined (perhaps due to the script’s quality), and Hancock continued his search. After gaining experience and entering the new millennium, Hancock attempted to emulate Ron Howard, directing films with similar styles and themes: the box-office hit “The Blind Side” with Sandra Bullock, the solid comedy “Saving Mr. Banks” with Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks, and the biopic “The Founder” about the origins of McDonald’s. However, the unfinished screenplay about murders in the noir-infused atmosphere of Los Angeles clearly pulled Hancock back, resulting in a painful experience for the audience.
Jared Leto as Albert Sparma in “The Little Things”
Lost in Time
“The Little Things,” ideologically imitating films like “Se7en,” might have found its place in the 1990s. However, even then, it would have risked quickly becoming outdated, joining other B-movie counterparts that failed to deconstruct or radicalize the genre. The film’s lack of risk-taking and its avoidance of any deviation from the formulaic plot drown it in a sea of blandness and sterility. This anachronism, emerging after decades, leaves nothing of Hancock’s youthful ideas except for illogicality, a lack of self-awareness, and a stifling atmosphere. This atmosphere doesn’t contribute to the film’s supposed “ambiance” but exists separately, like an irritating smog that causes discomfort and ultimately leads to indifference and a desire for the film to end quickly.
During pre-production, Hancock envisioned his characters with the faces of Clint Eastwood, Warren Beatty, and Danny DeVito. Thirty years later, Washington, Malek, and Leto, who replaced them, collectively have four Oscars. However, their presence on screen doesn’t become any more cohesive or worthwhile because of their accolades. Washington manages to extract some drama and authenticity from his character’s past mistakes, but ultimately ends up in a dead end of moralizing and embarrassing lines. Malek and Leto seem to be engaged in a vanity project with zero commitment: the former delivers an unwarranted sleepwalking performance, aimlessly wandering around the crime scene without any real impact; the latter genuinely believes that unwashed hair, brown contact lenses, a fake belly, and a slightly altered voice will shock the world. The emperor is clearly naked and limping. One can only hope that Leto will eventually abandon the idea of being a walking AliExpress kaleidoscope, along with sending dead rats and used condoms to his colleagues (as seen in “Suicide Squad”), and perhaps return to music. Perhaps the only member of the “Devil” team who can sleep soundly is composer Newman, who doesn’t have an Oscar. The hazy soundtrack, punctuated by the nervous “little things” mentioned in the title, recalls his score for Robert Altman’s “The Player” – where characters were running from an unknown threat, while here, the only threat is wasted time.
While the “good cops” supposedly find satisfaction at the end, it gets lost on the way to the audience. There’s always room for pulp fiction, but trying to create a serious tone without the necessary background and a script that respects the audience, arriving several lifetimes too late, is simply laughable. Humor is also absent from the film, except for the old and the young who want to be like them. It’s best to remove the nostalgic look at a dying world from the menu; we’re all grown up now, and we demand respect.