Os Pequenos Vestígios

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.

Early in the movie he was heading to LA, and told his dog he would be back that night. Then he didn't and stayed in LA without any call home to care for the dog.

Sorry, I know that probably isn't a big deal to anyone but to some crazy pet owners, but it was a distraction.

Please click yes if you agree.

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.

People are so used to gun fights and car chases when it comes to detective stories these days. Especially in movies. This was a deep dive into how frustrating real police work can be. A lot of fumbling around in the dark, chasing your tails, being obstructed by the very law you swear to uphold. The real question the movie poses is how far are you willing to go in order to catch a killer?

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.