Good evening everyone, and welcome to yet another session of movie reviewing. Well, now that we’re done with reviewing films that are Tom & Jerry related, we are now going into some more mature territory. This comes in the form of a cop thriller movie by the name of The Little Things.
Plot: Set somewhat shortly after 1990, in Kern County, in Bakersfield, California, a sheriff named Joe Deacon (Denzel Washington), and a detective named Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) hear of a serial killer that has been hunting his victims since around 1990, or before. Seeing as the serial killer has continued on his killing spree, can this duo track him down, and bring him to justice once and for all?
Well, for a movie that’s considered a thriller, and rated R, this one seems to stand out from other films of this genre. Quite honestly, if it wasn’t for that one cuss word being thrown in several times (which is typically the reason for a film of this type to be rated R nowadays), The Little Things could have most likely gotten away with a PG-13 rating. But oh well! Anyway, what makes this movie seem a little different from other thrillers is that it doesn’t seem to keep people in the audience suspended on the edge of their seats as much as others. Oh, don’t get me wrong, this film is suspenseful at times. However, at the same time The Little Things also does a surprisingly good job of balancing out it’s more suspenseful scenes with some more pleasurable moments. I mean, let me put it to you all this way? Some of you out there have seen a cop/detective show by the name of Blue Bloods, have you not? Well, for those of you who have, you know how the episodes in that show do have some action scenes, while also showing that officers, and detectives seem to also live a normal life when they have their days off, and things like that? Well, that basically seems to be the case in this film too. Granted, Blue Bloods seems to handle that better than this film, The Little Things. But you know what, Blue Bloods is a TV show that has been going on for the past decade, while The Little Things is just a movie that’s a little over two hours. So what are you going to do in that regard, you know? Anyway, Denzel Washington, and Rami Malek work well, with their respective individual characters, as well off of each other. I mean these actors, especially Denzel Washington, seem to prove that when you have the right people cast as certain characters, it can help make a movie even more good. Now, how about the story. Well, of course we’ve seen a numerous amount of stories of this kind in the past before. People are getting killed, the culprit needs to be tracked down, and things like that. However, what seems to make this movie a little more special in that regards is that the movie does end up having some really excellent messages, including how we can’t let our enemies get inside our heads, how we can’t let trivial things, or sometimes even things that are a huge deal, stress our lives out, or even destroy our lives. The additional characters, in addition to Joe Deacon, and Jim Baxter, are also really well written. Now, not all of them are of course going to be fleshed out. And that’s okay, since a movie can only focus on so many characters. Well, at least does a fabulous job of zeroing in on the characters that this film needs to focus on, you know? Oh, and another thing that I would like to mention is the score by Thomas Newman. Wow, if you liked his music in live-action films like The Green Mile, and Pay It Forward, or even animated films like Finding Nemo, or WALL-E, you’ll most likely like the music that he incorporates in this movie too. Once again, Newman puts his musical touch on this film, and shows just how much he can make the music shine, whether that be in the more intense moments of this film, or even the more quiet times as well. One other thing to mention is that the picture quality, and the scenery of California, or the parts of the state where this film is set, are really excellent.
And that’s my review for The Little Things. This film is a really great story with well composed music, excellent characters, an overall fantastic story, and an interesting thriller that may stand out from others of that type of film. If that’s a thriller that you’d be interested in seeing, or want to see one that seems to stand out from the rest, then all the more reason that The Little Things is a must see. Go see it for yourself, and see for yourself!
Final Grade: A+
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 