With a star-studded cast consisting of Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto, this Warner Bros. movie, “The Little Things,” intrigued those around the globe, myself included. Shown in theaters and released on the HBO Max streaming website, I watched this movie from the comfort of my home and had numerous thoughts after the conclusion.  

The film seemed to have harsh critiques within Hollywood receiving an IMDB rating of 6.3 out of 10 and a 47% score on Rotten Tomatoes. My rating would be a solid 8 out of 10. My reasonings will include a few hints at what happens within the film but will not reveal the main spoilers and ending.  

“The Little Things” focuses predominantly on Washington’s character Joe Deacon, also known as Deke, a Deputy who was previously a well-respected agent. It also focuses on Malek’s character, a new, but hardworking agent, Jim Baxter. The two begin working together to find a serial killer in Los Angeles, who is stalking and killing young females within the area. Now some may say that with a lack of jump scares, CGI monsters and intense fight scenes, that this film would not classify as ‘scary.’ However, as a female watching this movie alone in my apartment, I made sure to lock my doors that night and flinched at every little noise I heard.  

First, the visual and technical aspects of the film were captivating. The soundtrack was stellar, the camera shots and angles were interesting and kept the audience wondering and the special effects, although gruesome, overall accomplished the goal of showcasing a terrifying and heartless serial killer. This genre of movie has been done multiple times, but with performances by Washington, Malek and Leto, it is difficult to cast this film to the side.  

This movie is more along the lines of what I could only describe as a Psycho Thriller. It was fast-paced, enticing and, for a majority of the film, kept the audience guessing the truth. Now the reason I refused to rate the movie higher concerned its conclusion. Call me old-fashioned, but when a movie ends, I would like to know the truth, and the ending of “The Little Things” not only leaves major plotlines unanswered but somehow also adds further questions to an already complicated storyline.  

However, this feeling of questioning throughout the entire movie stays true and intact to the very end. In this regard, it is also easy to respect the intelligence of the movie and writers themselves to have you constantly wondering. I watched this movie days ago, and I’m still debating with myself what truly happened. Any film capable of doing this is marked as successful in my book, and in a final, ironic line, it’s the little things within this film that make it exceptional.

Article by Gabriella Wuller