![]() Over the course of eight elegiac episodes, True Detective can take the time to immerse you in the sordid and portentous details of these people, their cases, the lingering questions, and their demons and doubts made flesh. HBO's True Detective has also taken the serial killer formula and transformed it into a contemplative, long-form character study that looks just as much at the flawed detectives as it does the killers. We still love these kinds of stories when done well. While the preponderance of these kinds of movies has shifted to the ever-flowing world of direct-to-video (look for The Hangman, where Al Pacino chases a killer literally playing the game hangman with victims), there is still a perverse fascination with true crime culture and serial killers to be exploited by a canny writer. The 1990s was a heyday of serial killer thrillers it felt like any studio would greenlight a project as long as the crazed killer had a gimmick to their murders ("This guy only kills people on Friday… because you can't eat meat on Friday?"). The Little Things was originally written in the 90s by writer/director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr. The two men work together to untangle the details and target their primary suspect, Albert Sparma (Jared Leto), a bow-legged, greasy-haired creep who maybe confessed eight years ago. Deacon delivers evidence to Jim Baxter (Rami Malek), the new chief detective on a series of murders that may be a continuation from Deacon's days. cop but got far too involved in series of murders, and his obsession lead him to a heart attack, a divorce, and being removed from his office. In 1990, Joe "Deke" Deacon (Denzel Washington) is a LASD deputy and living out his final days on the force in the relative anonymity of the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles. It's far too long, far too slow, and with not nearly enough excitement or intrigue or depth. It's a meandering movie that doesn't quite commit to being a prestige character study or a grisly, pulpy serial killer thriller, and so it operates in a middle-ground that achieves little more than prolonged boredom. The Little Things wants to be Seven but it's not even half of Seven (three-point-five?).
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