Godzilla vs. Kong may have been hogging all of the spotlight, but there’s a star-studded HBO Max release coming this week that’s been flying almost completely under the radar despite the talent involved. The Little Things hits theaters and streaming on Friday, and based entirely on the fact that it’s a crime thriller with Denzel Washington in the lead role, people are going to want to check it out.
The 66 year-old screen legend is the sort of actor who can elevate even the most mediocre of material, which could turn out to be quite fortunate because early reviews for The Little Things haven’t been particularly enthusiastic. The story follows Washington’s veteran County Sheriff heading to Los Angeles for an assignment, where he ends up being drawn into the hunt for a serial killer.
The trailer boasted plenty of atmosphere, but it also made the movie look like the sort of cop thriller audiences have seen a hundred times before, and that’s exactly how the early reviews are describing it. The Little Things currently holds a bang average Rotten Tomatoes score of 50%, with the majority of critics labeling it as a workmanlike and formulaic entry into a genre that’s already been done to death.
Director John Lee Hancock wrote the script in 1993 in the hopes that Steven Spielberg would direct, but ended up holding onto the project for almost three decades before eventually helming it himself. With Jared Leto and Rami Malek also in main roles, the acting performances don’t seem to be an issue, and most of the criticism is instead pointed towards how derivative and uninspired The Little Things is, with Hancock apparently shooting the same draft he first penned almost 30 years ago.
