Denzel Washington and Rami Malek hunt a killer in The Little Things trailer
Aux Features Coming Distractions
Whenever you watch a trailer for a film that revolves around the hunt for a killer, three suspicions tend to arise:
- Is the person who looks like the killer really the killer?
- Is the killer actually one of the seeming protagonists?
- Or is the killer someone else entirely, thereby rendering our interpretation of this trailer completely moot?
Based on the trailer for The Little Things, the new film from writer-director John Lee Hancock, our hunch at the moment is that there’s a good chance question number two might be headed in the right direction. Then again, that’s probably just the red-herring intent of this trailer—or so it would have us believe. The film follows small-town Deputy Sheriff Joe “Deke” Deacon (Denzel Washington) who is sent to L.A. for some routine work and finds himself unofficially recruited by L.A. Sergeant Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) to help track down a killer menacing the city. From the look of it, scraggly weirdo Jared Leto—or rather, his character—is involved in some way, but as tends to be the case with these things, it’s a little more complicated than it seems. As the press release explains, “Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deke’s past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case.”
Setting aside the prestige hook of having three Oscar winners topline this movie, The Little Things looks like a thoroughly lurid and probably very entertaining slice of nasty, pulpy thrills—in other words, exactly the kind of project that Denzel Washington has been having fun playing around in for nearly three decades, now. Let’s hope Hancock brings a sharper sense of excitement to this than he did his last cops-hunting-killers movie, 2019's The Highwaymen.
The film will be released in theaters on January 29—but more importantly, it will be available on HBO Max that same day, another high-profile feather in the cap of the increasingly much-less-confusing streaming service in its mission to take on Netflix. Which, let us just take another moment to say that we are one hundred percent behind Warner Brothers’ decision; we want the movie theater experience back as much as anyone, but let’s acknowledge that this is a year unlike any other and just allow for the necessity of staying home—and staying safe—in the meantime.
19 Comments
The most interesting thing in the trailer is Denzel’s gray hair.
Has Denzel ever done a bad performance? Has he ever failed to make a movie better just by being in it?
“The Magnificent Seven”
Was his performance bad? The movie was but I’ve forgotten everything aside from that fact. I feel like I’d remember a bad Denzel performance.
That’s crazy- Denzel is no worse than anyone in that film, and the best thing of that film is its performances.
I enjoyed the new M7. Not as good as the original, but far from worthless.
It’s a true popcorn flick. The old M7 is better than its contemporaries, and the remake feels more in line with a standard western in its hey day.
Denzel is a polish to any turd.
I didn’t like the new Magnificent Seven much – mostly because it was unnecessary. But Denzel was very good in it as he’s very good in everything. I have seen him in worse movies than M7 – but I have never seen him put in a bad or even lazy performance.
Yeah that’s pretty much my take. Denzel can’t always save a movie, but he always makes it better than it otherwise would have been.
Aside from the three leads, the only other actor billed is Natalie Morales, who doesn’t seem to be in the trailer? I hope she gets something to do.
There’s a Se7en feel. Or maybe it’s just seeing two cops in a desert…
Well, we can but hope that Gwyneth Paltrow’s head shows up in this movie.
I kept looking at the long-haired guy thinking it looked like Leto but couldn’t figure out who it really was. Then I see his name at the end. Looking pretty healthy, like he’s eaten a couple meals since the last time I saw him. Good for him.
The moment I saw that character I thought “thats Leto”, clocked him again then thought “that’s not Leto at all, looks a bit like him though”, remembered why I thought it looked like him (from that whole dressing like Jesus on an island in Croatia he invited his fans to and got them to call him Prophet part of his career), thought “I’m glad that’s not Leto, what a fucking smug, pretentious shit-rag he is”, became half interested in watching the film, then read this article, realised it was him, then posted this insane reply to your comment.Jared Leto is both a ridiculous cunt and massive prick.
This film looks interesting, I’m in need of a confined, slow burning mystery.
What I’d really love to see is Denzel in a Taylor Sheridan-penned story. Sheridan makes amazing characters, Denzel would do amazing.
Shameless self promotion post: I met Hancock last year, along with John ‘Hidalgo’ Fusco at a screening Netflix set up for the Highwaymen, as the movie is about my great grandfather(Frank Hamer). We spent a couple of hours going through the materials(pictures mostly) I have of my great grandfather, then got to watch the film. Mr. Hancock and Mr. Fusco were both very laid back and chill people to hang out with.
This actually looks like the old style, small budget thriller movie made for adults that haven’t been made in 20 years. I’m in.
Can anyone confirm that, at the 1:50 m ark, we’re seeing video on a flat-screen device? Because if so, I’d love to know how that fits in the period with first-gen Golf convertibles and CRT TVs?