The Little Things (2021)

Set in 1990 Los Angeles, a girl (Sofia Vassilieva) driving on the highway is terrorized by an unseen motorist but she manages to escape by flagging down a truck. Jump several months later and a deputy (Denzel Washington) is sent to L.A. to recover evidence. He accompanies a police detective (Rami Malek) to the scene of a brutal killing of a young girl and he notices the similarities between her murder and an old serial murder case that he wasn't able to solve and which destroyed his life. Written and directed by John Lee Hancock (THE BLIND SIDE), we're on all too familiar territory here with echoes of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and SE7EN. The movie benefits from the quality of the performances and the dark mood Hancock sustains throughout. But the film goes off the rails in the last half hour when Malek's detective, an educated and smart cop does something so out of character and so jaw dropping stupid that any semblance of believability goes out the window. Jared Leto as the primary suspect in the murders is getting a lot of award buzz (he's nominated for both a SAG and Golden Globe) and while he's fine, I didn't find his performance particularly special but rather obvious. The film's ultimate moral ambiguity may leave a bad taste for some. Thomas Newman contributed the moody underscore. With Natalie Morales, Michael Hyatt, Terry Kinney and Isabel Arraiza.