Denzel Washington's R-Rated Thriller That's A Hit On Netflix Was Worth The 28-Year Wait

Published Sep 13, 2026, 5:55 PM EDT Richard Craig is a Senior Author at Screen Rant covering film and TV. Richard has also written extensively about horror and film soundtracks, contributing a chapter to the first major academic collection on the folk horror genre, The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. Richard is also a performing musician and holds an MA in Music and Sound Art. One of Denzel Washington's darkest crime thrillers is finally finding the audience it always deserved – proving that the 28-year wait for its release was totally worth it. Netflix subscribers have recently propelled the R-rated mystery into the platform's most-watched charts, giving new life to a film that spent decades trying to reach the screen before eventually being released in 2021. The serial killer thriller arrived during a particularly unusual moment in Hollywood history. It was released as part of Warner Bros.' controversial strategy of debuting its 2021 theatrical slate simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, placing it alongside major studio titles that were navigating the challenges of the pandemic era. Despite attracting a cast led by Washington, the movie generated a more muted response than many expected at the time. Yet its recent streaming resurgence suggests audiences have become increasingly receptive to the kind of adult-oriented crime thriller that Hollywood rarely produces today. Unlike many contemporary mysteries, it favors atmosphere, character psychology, and moral ambiguity over elaborate action sequences or franchise-building. That old-school approach is precisely what makes John Lee Hancock’s The Little Things stand out. It feels less like a modern streaming-era thriller and more like the kind of morally complicated crime drama that dominated theaters during the 1970s and 1990s. Ironically, that's because its origins stretch all the way back to that era, long before audiences ever saw the finished movie. It Took 28 Years For The Little Things To Happen The long journey to the screen is one of the most fascinating aspects of The Little Things. Writer-director John Lee Hancock originally wrote the screenplay back in the spring of 1993. He wrote the script shortly after working on Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World, years before he became a director himself. Over the following decades, the project repeatedly came close to happening but never quite made it into production. According to Hancock, several high-profile filmmakers and actors became attached at various points. Steven Spielberg briefly considered the project before deciding it was too dark following Schindler's List. Clint Eastwood was attached for a period, while discussions also involved Warren Beatty and Danny DeVito. After Hancock transitioned into directing with films such as The Rookie, The Blind Side, and Saving Mr. Banks, producer Mark Johnson reportedly encouraged him to direct the screenplay himself (via Deadline). Hancock repeatedly declined because of the story's bleak subject matter and the commitment required to immerse himself in such a dark world while raising young children. Eventually, he revisited the script and discovered it still worked. Warner Bros., which had owned the screenplay for decades, reread it rather than allowing it to leave the studio. Hancock recalled executive Courtenay Valenti telling him that everyone loved the script, effectively giving it a new lease on life. Nearly three decades after it was first written, production on The Little Things finally moved forward. Denzel Washington's Performance Means The Little Things Was Worth The Wait Image via MovieStillsDB The biggest reason that the wait for The Little Things ultimately paid off is Denzel Washington. Washington plays Joe "Deke" Deacon, a former Los Angeles detective whose involvement in a new serial killer investigation forces him to confront unresolved trauma from his past. It's exactly the kind of morally conflicted character that has defined some of Washington's strongest work, sitting comfortably alongside performances in films such as Training Day, Fallen, and The Bone Collector. Deke is exhausted, haunted, and carrying years of guilt that gradually reveal themselves throughout the investigation. Washington communicates much of that history through small details and quiet moments rather than dramatic speeches. His presence also helps sell the movie's throwback sensibility. Hollywood rarely produces mid-budget, adult-oriented crime thrillers like this anymore, especially ones willing to embrace ambiguity and resist providing easy answers. The Little Things feels like a relic from an earlier era of studio filmmaking, when psychological crime dramas regularly occupied multiplexes rather than streaming libraries. That's part of why The Little Things has connected with Netflix viewers years after its initial release. Recent chart appearances on Netflix in multiple territories show that audiences are still responding to its slow-burn mystery and star-powered cast. Had The Little Things been made during any of its earlier incarnations, it might have become a very different film with very different results. Release Date January 28, 2021 Runtime 128 minutes Director John Lee Hancock Writers John Lee Hancock Producers Mark Johnson, John Lee Hancock, Donald Sparks