The Little Things [Blu-Ray]

Director: John Lee Hancock

Cast: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto

Release Date: May 4, 2021

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe “Deke” Deacon (Denzel Washington) is sent to Los Angeles for what should have been a quick evidence-gathering assignment. Instead, he becomes embroiled in the search for a killer who is terrorizing the city. Leading the hunt, L.A. Sheriff Department Sergeant Jim Baxter (Rami Malek), impressed with Deke’s cop instincts, unofficially engages his help. But as they track the killer, Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deke’s past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case.

Please Note: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘The Little Things’ accompanies Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe Deacon (Washington) who after being sent back to his hometown for what was supposed to be a simple evidence retrieval, quickly finds himself engulfed in a series of local murders, the case led by a new hotshot named Jim Baxter (Malek) who enlists the hesitant Joe’s help in the hopes that his unique talents might shine some new light on this troubling case. Yet Jim is unaware that the current case has more than a few troubling similarities to an old investigation that sent Joe spiraling.

Written and directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, The Founder) who does a pretty solid job at the helm of ‘The Little Things’ guiding along this twisty cat and mouse thriller with a colorful and gloomy sense of unease. The film also owes a huge chunk of credit to the cast which features numerous talented individuals and includes Denzel Washington (Fences), Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Jared Leto (Blade Runner 2049), Natalie Morales (Happily), Chris Bauer (TV’s The Deuce) and more, with the majority offering more than capable performances for the most part in each of their respective roles and helping this one to become far more rewarding than it likely would have been without such talent in front of the camera.

‘The Little Things’ is a tense, gloomy and engaging police thriller that’s quite unlike the more typical genre entries we’re familiar with, significantly boosted by a trio of immensely talented (and Oscar winning) lead cast members who help to make this is a ride that may not be perfect, but is certainly still worth taking. Serving up an enthralling and often quite tense game of cat and mouse between police and a man suspected of a series of heinous murders, it occasionally slips in its approach and also goes to some curious, if not even baffling places with its story and without delving into spoiler territory I’ll just say that the end likely won’t be loved by everyone. Fortunately even with its issues (some of which are harder to ignore than others), the film never fails to keep the viewer glued to the screen and wondering what might be thrown our way next. I would encourage anyone that’s already looking forward to this one or is a diehard fan of any or all of the talented key cast members to give ‘The Little Things’ a shot whenever possible and make up your own mind about it. It may have its issues, but it also definitely has its strengths and as a whole is by no means as horrid of a film as many try to label it.

Overall, ‘The Little Things’ is an entertaining and often intense cat and mouse police thriller that explores the ongoing case of a serial killer and the lengths at which the cops investigating are willing to go to find justice. It has a handful of issues and loses its way at times, but the three talented leads along with an intriguing mystery at its core still make it worth diving into. I would recommend giving ‘The Little Things’ a fair chance if you have the opportunity and didn’t check it out in theaters or on HBO Max. It has its hiccups but the powerhouse lead cast alone will certainly still make it worth a watch for many. Nonetheless, I would definitely encourage first time viewers to try and rent it before purchasing a copy just to be safe.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Little Things’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic as a whole and provides a sharp, clean and richly detailed presentation from start to finish with no unexpected issues or faults to be found throughout. It holds up smoothly even during the numerous darkly lit sequences throughout, never allowing anything occurring onscreen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a nice high definition video presentation from Warner Bros. that shouldn’t have any trouble pleasing first time viewers or fans.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack offers a crisp, clean and fairly active audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly embraces all five available channels in order to send nature content, vehicle activity and music along with more throughout the various speakers at every appropriate opportunity and never causing any dialogue or other audio elements that may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a solid 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that nicely compliments the onscreen tension and shouldn’t disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Little Things’ includes a couple brief, yet entertaining extras in the way of two Behind the Scenes Featurettes: ‘The Little Things: Four Shades of Blue’ which explores four different roles featuring Denzel Washington as a cop (running approximately 9 minutes in length) and ‘A Contrast In Styles’ which showcases the different talents offered by the powerhouse cast (running approximately 8 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

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‘The Little Things’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

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