The Little Things

The plot revolves around the suspected murder of a teenage girl, although The Little Things is less about those who are guilty than those trying to find them.

This taut and suspenseful crime thriller rises above its procedural trappings thanks to richly textured characters and carefully modulated performances, and a screenplay that manages enough clever twists to avoid becoming convoluted or predictable.

Set in 1990, the story follows Deacon (Denzel Washington), a sheriff’s deputy who recently relocated from Los Angeles to a rural California county. During a routine trip to the city, he stops by to visit some old colleagues, only some of which are pleased to see him.

Before wearing out his welcome, he winds up in the office of Baxter (Rami Malek), a young detective assigned to a high-profile case involving a serial killer. When Deacon’s background proves useful, Baxter reluctantly forms an alliance.

With multiple killings over several years, public pressure is high and evidence is scarce. Clues lead Deacon and Baxter to an elusive handyman (Jared Leto) who maintains his innocence yet seems to enjoy playing mind games with his pursuers.

As details are gradually revealed about his almost obsessive connection to the case, Deacon demonstrates the value of institutional knowledge as a detective, even as mistrust over his past methods continues to haunt him.

Employing an offbeat charm and array of hangdog expressions, his affability masks an internal vulnerability that suggests a tortured need for closure, perhaps due to a guilty conscience. As Baxter initially asks: “Why are you trying to sell a 5-year-old case that everyone else has forgotten about?”

Providing a fresh take on familiar themes, the screenplay by director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) is effective both as a murder mystery and as a character study about redemption and the evolving nature of police work.

The slickly atmospheric and technically proficient film remains compelling even as it settles into a familiar cat-and-mouse framework, or as its intensity ebbs and flows.

Washington has played multiple variations of this flawed hero before, and again generates hard-earned sympathy. Leto matches him by probing his fascinating assemblage of eccentricities to play a brooding creep whose motives remain cloudy.

There are a bunch of little things wrong with The Little Things, which nevertheless uses an unconventional structure and an ambiguous ending to enhance the intrigue rather than muddle it.

Rated R, 128 minutes.