The Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto serial killer mystery leaves viewers with some big questions.
Netflix loves itself a murder mystery. As well as the comical satire of the genre literally called Murder Mystery, the streaming service is currently playing host to a number of classics from the genre including Memento, Prisoners and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Also recently added to Netflix is 2021 thriller The Little Things starring Denzel Washington and Rami Malek as a pair of detectives and Jared Leto as suspect numero uno. Directed by John Lee Hancock of The Blind Side fame, the film was released with little fanfare as cinemas were still struggling to reel in customers due to the COVID-19 pandemic and mixed reviews didn’t help things either, with many critics comparing it inferiorly to ’90s thrillers.
Set in 1990s Los Angeles, a serial killer is targeting women in the City of Angels with an MO similar to that of an unsolved case from a time gone by. Deke (Washington) was previously the point detective on the unsolved case and his obsession with solving the crime has led to the dissolution of his marriage and numerous health problems. He joins the younger Baxter (Malek) in pursuing whoever is behind this new raft of killings.
Their investigation points them in the direction of the incredibly creepy Albert Sparma (Leto), who has previously confessed to a killing he couldn’t possibly have committed and frequently taunts the detectives about their failure to solve the case.
Sparma is the only suspect the film proposes to the audience and it is clear that both Deke and Baxter believe him to be the serial killer. However, the detectives never find any hard proof that Sparma killed anyone and he is largely suspected because he is an odious scumbag who seems to be delighted at being public enemy number one.
Eventually, when cornered by Baxter, Sparma says he will take the detective to the body of one of the dead women, which Baxter of course accepts, with Deke following behind in his car – leading to the twisty climax.
The Little Things ending: Who is the killer?
Sparma takes Baxter to what he says is the burial place of one of his victims but though the cop digs and digs and digs some more for a body, nothing is found. All the while, Sparma taunts the detective and even mocks his ability to protect his daughters, causing Baxter to lose it and beat Sparma to death with a shovel.
Deke arrives with the intent to cover up Sparma’s murder, with the film suddenly flashing back to five years previously to show the senior cop accidentally shooting a missing girl and the incident being hushed up by the coroner.
Deke tells Baxter to forget about Sparma or else it will consume all of him, even as the younger cop continues to search for a body in the desert but none can be found.
Moving to the very final sequence of the film, Baxter is at home when he receives a package in the mail featuring a red hair clip identical to the one worn by one of the murder victims. The film then cuts to Deke burning all of Sparma’s things as well as a brand new box of hair clips with the red one missing. Deke bought the hair clip and sent it to Baxter to try and make him think that he did the right thing and could now reach closure.
By the time the credits roll, we don’t find out who killed the women. We don’t know if it was Sparma or not. All we know is that Deke now wants Baxter to believe Sparma was the killer so that he didn’t suffer from the same torment he did.
Hancock was also ambiguous about the ending when asked about it by Entertainment Weekly: “I can make an argument either way. I mean, he does say, ‘I’ve got to work tomorrow, come on let’s go,’ which is a hint that nothing’s going to happen out there. If he was taking him out there to go and find a body, then he certainly wouldn’t be going to work the next day. Or is he lying?”
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The Little Things is available to watch now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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