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Surprisingly Good Ripoff of "Rear Window" From the moment I first saw the trailer for "Disturbia", the new film starring Shia La Beouf, David Morse and Carrie Anne Moss, I immediately wrote it off. This 'modern-day' retake on "Rear Window", was too blatant a rip-off of an acknowledged classic by the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. I suspect I am not the only Hitchcock fan who felt this way. So, this weekend, I decided to see "Distrubia" so I could bad mouth the film with impunity. I was pleasantly surprised by "Disturbia". Yes, it uses (Appropriates? Steals?) the basic premise of "Rear Window", but it is a lot better than it had any right to be. It is also a bit refreshing because it goes to great pains to build suspense rather than to try to shock the audience into submission. Kale (Shia LaBeouf, "Holes", Disney Channel's "Even Stevens") is not handling the recent death of his father well. After an incident with a teacher, he is sentenced to three months of house arrest. Shortly after the police fit him with an ankle bracelet, his mom, Julie (Carrie Anne Moss, "The Matrix"), turns off the iTunes and the X-box, leaving him to spend the long days trying to find ways to amuse himself. Ready to go out of his mind, a new neighbor moves in next door and their daughter, Ashley (Sarah Roemer) catches his attention. She suspects something, but doesn't quite realize she is being spied on until Ronald (Aaron Yoo), his friend returns from a trip to Hawaii. They make a lot of noise and soon Ashley, overly confident and ready for some amusement, comes over and joins the fun. As they watch the neighbors, Mr. Turner (David Morse), fairly new to the neighborhood, attracts their attention and all of the news stories about a missing waitress connect, causing their paranoia to increase. Mr. Turner's strange behavior only increases their surveillance. When they attract his attention, Mr. Turner makes it known he "would really rather not be watched". During all of these events, Kale must deal with frequent and fast responses from the police, every time he crosses the barrier causing his ankle bracelet to set off an alarm. Directed by D.J. Caruso ("Two for the Money", "Taking Lives"), "Disturbia" was a surprise, primarily because it takes a pleasantly adequate amount of time to build the characters, their lives, the situation and more before turning on the suspense. It is also a bit of an old-fashioned suspense film; much more effort is used to make the film suspenseful, rather than shocking and/ or gross, which seems to be the current trend in today's modern filmmaking. As Kale, Shia LaBeouf brings an engaging likeability to the screen. A teenager, about to graduate from high school, he seems to be a good kid, but has had some set backs in the past year. A horrific accident has claimed his dad (Matt Craven, TV's "Raines") and left him feeling a little guilty. The attack on his teacher was the last straw, but the judge still gives him some pity, recognizing the difficulty of losing one's parent, placing him under house arrest. But this is probably more difficult for this active teenager to handle. During the summer, no less, when everyone else is allowed to roam free for three months. He expects that he will be able to pass some of the time away with his Xbox and his iTunes, but his mom quickly cuts them off. As we go through these moments with Kale, we really begin to share his feelings of isolation and boredom, giving us a feeling of what his life is like, putting us in his mindset. This helps to prepare us to experience the events through his eyes. When the neighbor moves in across the street, his teenage boy eyes immediately spot their daughter, the attractive Sarah Roemer. Actually, any male's eyes would be immediately drawn to her. LaBeouf makes his desire for her palpable and instantaneous. Yes, he is a horny teenager, but he is more interested in her, perplexed by her, than anything else, and every time he sees her, he goes a little quiet, as if struck by her beauty. It is a nice touch from the actor, giving this role believability and likeability. We know he would instantly like to kiss her and sleep with her, but he is nervous and can't really bring himself to make the necessary moves. Also, when Ronald and Kale are together, Kale acts very differently. But once she enters their circle and he does get to know her, they both become attracted to each other. David Morse is suitably creepy as Mr. Turner, the new next-door neighbor. The film establishes his ambiguity fairly early; every time Kale or Ronald or Ashley begins to suspect him for something weird that has happened, an explanation is offered. Yes, he remains creepy throughout, but the film manages to maintain his ambiguity for a while. When everything starts to come to a conclusion, he turns out to be very creepy, maybe a little too creepy for the film's good. It won't fit. Please read the full review at thornhillatthemovies.com email this review to a friend
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