Une affaire de détails

The movie is interesting but I still think they could have done better scenes and improved the story line with a better ending.. However, as long Denzel is the leading actor you will never regret watching the movie

A movie can leave feeling any number of ways-happy, sad, amazed, provoked, whatever-but the common denominator of good ones is that when the lights go up, you feel satisfied; it was worth the trip. I didn't fee that way when this one ended. Yes, it made its point: a detective working a murder case can become obsessed; it's the burden of responsibility, seeking justice, retribution, vengeance-choose your word-for the victim. And the point of the story is the old proverb: "Before you set out on a journey of revenge, dig two graves" (or something like that). That's all well and good, but IMO, this story melted away in the last 30 minutes. With some hard work on the script and more inventiveness, it could have been so much more.

Joe Deacon, A Deputy Sherriff in a regional police force, is sent to LA to fetch some evidence for a case. In LA he is reunited with many former colleagues as he was a homicide detective there. He is also drawn into a perplexing serial killer case, the details of which are very familiar.

Reasonably interesting, though had the potential to be brilliant. Started off well, with decent character development and an intriguing plot. Good casting and performances too. Denzel Washington puts in his usual solid performance, Rami Malek is good and Jered Leto does what he does best - act as a weird, off-the-wall character.

However, just when this looks set to be heading for something fantastic, cracks start to appear. The plot is less watertight and plausible and then it suddenly takes a rather tangential direction. This direction could have been a masterstroke if handled correctly but unfortunately it isn't. The ending is quite the damp squib. It is dressed up to appear quite profound but it isn't.

So quite disappointing in the end. If writer-director John Lee Hancock had stuck with the initial plot and made a tension-filled crime drama this could have been great. Instead he tries to take it in another direction and while this is more original, his plot is weak, making for an unsatisfying conclusion.

The Little Things - 7/10

The little things obviously took a lot of inspiration from other films; everybody points out that it was inspired by David Fincher's Se7en but I was equally reminded of Nolan's Insomnia as well. That being said, that does not mean that this film doesn't have anything new to offer. Although it does follow some familiar tropes and storylines, it still is original enough to offer something new. Added to that is some fantastic acting from all three leads.

Most of the time when you have multiple great actors all vying for an Oscar nomination in a single movie it leads to some dramatic overacting, in this case all three performances are subtle, subdued, understated yet still brilliant. The mystery in this film is fairly obvious, the trailer shows you everything you need to know. But with that in mind, the mystery wasn't really the focal point of this story in my opinion. The focus rather was on the characters and their development and about who they are as characters. In my mind the characters are written very well, not that they're perfect but they're good.

I think there was some sloppy editing, sloppy writing, and inconsistent directing but nothing worthy of a 54% that they've received from Metacritic. I'm not saying it's the next big classic film or anything like that, no not at all. But I think that this film fully deserves a seven that I've given it. Not a classic, but definitely worth a watch if you enjoy dark films like seven, insomnia, and many more.

It's 1990 southern California. A young female motorist is harassed by a mysterious muscle car. L.A. Sheriff's Department homicide detective Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) investigates a murder. Kern County deputy sheriff Joe "Deke" Deacon (Denzel Washington) happens to be in town to retrieve evidence for another case. He's a former detective from LASD but left after some unspecified incident. He finds Jim's case to be connected to his former case. The two starts to suspect Albert Sparma (Jared Leto) who drives a muscle car to be a serial killer.

This is trying to be Se7en and True Detective and other high concept crime mystery with a twist. It's interesting in some aspects but falters in others. First and foremost, this is not a whodunnit. The movie piles on all the suspicion on Sparma with only a small wink at the fingerprint guy. Quite frankly, it's either Sparma or not Sparma. Anyone else would be meaningless anyways. There is some hope of turning this into a character study of these three people. That's a 50/50 proposition in this case. Denzel can sleepwalk through this role and I'm not saying that he is. I'm also not saying that he isn't. With Rami and Jared, the film has two of the most outlier actors around. It may be one too many. They are pushing very hard and at times, they push the movie over the edge. Finally, I have issues with the final confrontation. There are problems with it and I don't like it. Nevertheless, I still like the three actors and it's always interesting to see them go to work.