The Little Things Review
“It’s all about the little things”—that is, until you forget the big things.
John Hancock’s 2021 film The Little Things is a dark disturbing crime thriller that left me wanting more. However, not in the engaging sense where you wish you had more of the story ahead of you. Unfortunately, the movie takes brave choices that don’t really pay off, and left me wanting to rewatch Se7en again rather than think on the Warner Media flick any more.
That’s not to say that The Little Things is terrible. The mystery has a phenomenal build-up. It has charming moments, good dialogue, and an interesting mystery, but most of the movie is winding up suspense and intrigue that seems like it will eventually pay off. Unfortunately, it does not, and the movie ends up feeling like a boring waste of time as a result. It’s ending is surely ambitious, but it fell totally flat for me, and I felt like I had wasted time and energy trying to solve a mystery with no real twists or turns, at least none that had any real emotional impact on me. I just left the film unsatisfied.
The problem is the movie is more derivative than innovative. It’s a premise as old as Hollywood Cinema, a bright-eyed detective is put onto a case that is way out of his league, and a grizzled, old, disgraced cop helps because of similarities in an old case of his. We’ve all seen this movie before. Sure, Rami Malek, Denzel Washington, and Jared Leto are great throughout (primarily Leto), but they’re in no way at their best. We’ve seen breathtaking, Oscar-winning performances from each, yet there seemed to be little chemistry between all of them. I just didn’t really care about any of them and I didn’t really care about the mystery. Having seen Se7en basically do the same thing before, but with better performances, better writing, better intrigue, and a better ending—hell, they even are set at the same time. I just wanted to watch Fincher’s gripping thriller Mystery than ever return to this bore of a flick with no real emotional weight behind it. At least it didn’t cost me anything, since I already have an HBO Max subscription.
Final Review: 5.5/10
