Movie reviews: The Little Things is a gripping murder investigation

Plus Army of the Dead is a mash-up of zombie flick and Vegas heist — including a zombie tiger modelled on a tiger owned by Carole Baskin

Denzel Washington and Rami Malek in The Little Things

The Little Things ★★★★☆

Dispatched from Bakersfield to LA on a routine evidence check, aging cop Joe Deacon (Denzel Washington) discovers that The Little Things (16s) can very quickly blow up into a career-defining case. LA-based detective Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) initially resents the veteran Deacon’s presence, but soon the pair are tracking a serial killer who hunts young women, and whose methods bear a strong similarity to the predator who destroyed Deacon’s life. Written and directed by John Lee Hancock, The Little Things opens up as a conventional yarn about bickering cops who reluctantly unite for the greater good, but gradually reveals itself as a story that is a good deal more interesting, and darker in tone, than the usual storyline allows. 

Malek more than holds his own as the superficially cynical Baxter

For one, Denzel Washington and Rami Malek delivered nuanced performances that get under the skin of the caricature of the world-weary, hardboiled cop: Washington has always been superb at finding those tics and nuances that create memorable characters, and Malek more than holds his own as the superficially cynical Baxter who has, to this point in his career, only flirted with the Nietzschean concept of how staring too long into the abyss can make a monster of the best-intentioned man. They get strong support from Jared Leto, playing Albert Sparma, a social misfit who might or might not be a homicidal lunatic, but who certainly enjoys the notoriety of being chief suspect in a murder investigation. In setting his story in 1990, and by alluding to classic cop dramas — Kojak, Columbo — John Lee Hancock gives his movie a timeless feel that is emphasised by the disorientating effect of many night-time drives along the deserted LA streets. And the result — a couple of late plot-wobbles aside — is a gripping murder investigation in which the City of Angels is bedevilled by a soulless killer on the one hand and a pair of avenging angels on the other. (streaming release)

 

The Woman in the Window ★★★☆☆

Amy Adams in The Woman in the Window

Adapted from the bestselling novel by AJ Finn, The Woman in the Window (12A) stars Amy Adams as Anna Fox, an agoraphobic psychiatrist who is unable to leave her apartment. When her new neighbour, Jane Russell (Julianne Moore), arrives to introduce herself, Anna believes she’s made a new friend, only to shortly afterwards witness Jane’s murder through the apartment window across the street. But when Anna calls 911, and the cops arrive, Alistair Russell (Gary Oldman) presents his wife, Jane (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who insists that the heavily medicated Anna must have hallucinated the murder. Adapted by Tracy Letts and directed by Joe Wright, The Woman in the Window acknowledges its cinematic debt from the beginning, when we catch a glimpse of James Stewart in Rear Window. It’s a bold move, but one which is justified for the first half of the film as the bewildered Anna thrashes around in the coils of psychological horror, with Adams excellent as the self-doubting heroine who can’t seem to awake from her nightmare. The second half, however, becomes a rather lurid slasher flick that lurches from one unlikely scenario to the next, as Tracy Letts and Joe Wright do their best to remain faithful to the wildly improbable twists of the original novel. (Netflix)

 

Army of the Dead ★★☆ ☆☆

Dave Bautista as Scott Ward. Picture: PA Photo/Netflix

Army of the Dead (12) starts with a terrific opening credits sequence, in which we see Las Vegas being overrun by a horde of zombies. Now walled off to prevent the zombie plague from spreading, and due to be nuked, Vegas is the destination for Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), who is commissioned by Mr Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) to infiltrate the city and steal the 200 billion dollars in cash that is still stored in the vaults of his casino. Assembling a crew of his old army buddies, and with his daughter Kate (Ella Purnell) tagging along, Scott sets out for the heart of the zombie-infested Vegas, unaware that the zombies are considerably more evolved than the undead tend to be … Zack Snyder ( Justice League, Batman v Superman) is not a director renowned for his subtlety, so it’s no surprise that Army of the Dead is effectively a two-hour shoot-’em-up, although it’s something of a disappointment that the movie is considerably less fun than a mash-up of zombie flick and Vegas heist really should be. There are some interesting flourishes, and particularly the idea that the undead have developed a social hierarchy and rituals, etc., although even here Snyder seems more interested in the idea of a zombie tiger (one of Siegfried and Roy’s, since you ask) than exploring what a sophisticated zombie army might achieve. If the prolonged massacre of zombies is your idea of fun, you’ll probably love Army of the Dead; otherwise it might get a little monotonous. (Netflix)