It’s a movie that’s constantly on the verge of developing into something as intense and haunting as writer/director John Lee Hancock wants it to be, but it never achieves its goals, especially in its final half-hour. Some of the major stuff here works, including a performance from Washington that’s better than the movie around it (yet again), some striking L.A. cinematography, and an effective score, but one could say that it’s the little things that hold it back. A few big things too.Joe Deacon (Washington) is a disgraced former L.A. cop who now works in Bakersfield, living alone on the edge of society.Small City 2021 Full Movie Download
Our story unfolds in 1990 for little reason other than proximity to The Night Stalker case, which still hangs in the air when a new serial killer emerges in the City of Angels (and “The Little Things” was reportedly initially written a quarter-century ago, which could explain why it feels so much like the potboilers of that era). It’s revealed that ‘Deke’ lost his marriage, had a heart attack, and had to leave town because of a particularly brutal case that he couldn’t solve. He’s haunted and unwanted by his former colleagues, including Captain Carl Farris (Terry Kinney) and Detective Sal Rizoli (Chris Bauer), but Deke gets sucked back into that which nearly destroyed him when he ends up helping his replacement, Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) with the serial killer case that’s terrifying the city. It’s not long before they discover that a loner named Albert Sparma (Jared Leto) is their likely suspect, and “The Little Things” becomes a cat and mouse game between the two detectives and the creepiest guy in L.A., a disturbing character who appears to get off on playing games with the cops.