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All Movie Info
Starring:
Jose Pablo Cantillo, Charles Carroll, Matt Craven, Dominic Daniel, Shia LaBeouf, David Morse, Carrie-Anne Moss, Amanda Walsh, Sarah Roemer, Aaron Yoo, Cathy Immordino, Elyse Mirto, Kent Shocknek, Kurt David Anderson, Luciano Rauso, Kent Shocknek, Angela Storm, Tim Rifai
Directed By:
D.J. Caruso
Written By:
Carl Ellsworth, Christopher B. Landon
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Disturbia (2007)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
August 19th, 2007
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'Disturbia' is a hip and stylish update of Rear Window, but it follows its own course, does not plagiarize or attempt to insult the Hitchcock classic, nor is it a scene-by-scene remake, as was Gus Van Sant's Psycho. Rather, we see the use of modern technology, cell phones, video cameras, and plain old binoculars, and a new setting, a suburb rather than an apartment complex. Like Jimmy Stewart's JB Jeffries, Shia LeBoeuf's Kale must stay indoors all summer, and alleviates boredom by spying on his neighbors. But, he did not break his leg, nor is he confined to a wheelchair. His father died in a car accident, and he punches his Spanish teacher, and he is placed under house arrest, with a device strapped onto him that prevents him from traveling any farther than his front yard.
His mother, Julie (Carrie-Anne Moss) cancels his Xbox live subscription, and basically takes away all means of entertaining himself, hoping to encourage him to clean up his room and do chores. But, he has the new girl in town, Ashley (Sarah Roemer) to gawk at while she swims in her pool, and his friend Ronnie (Yoo) comes over every now and then to share in his voyeuristic endeavors. However, Kale starts to suspect that one of his neighbors, Robert Turner (Morse) is a serial killer, much like Lars Thorwald (who was played by Raymond Burr). JB accused him of murdering his wife; Turner is accused of murdering several different women, whom he apparently picks up at local bars and clubs. With Thorwald, his innocence was always a possibility, maybe Jeffries simply made the wrong assumptions and drew the wrong conclusions, as we never saw any physical evidence that incriminated him. With Turner, that is not really the case.
There are moments when it looks as though Kale has made a mistake (for instance, a dead deer in a tarp that he believes is a body), but then we realize that Turner is rather good at covering his tracks, but there is never any doubt that they guy is a psychopath. The movie generates some extremely taut and well-crafted moments of suspense, and its last half hour or so plays very much like a high-octane slasher flick, the eventual confrontation between Turner and Kale occurring rather suddenly and unexpectedly. The first part of the movie is playful and amusingly light-hearted. Kale tests the limits of the device that imprisons him, and he swoons over Ashley, whose unhappily married parents compel her to spend as much time as she can at Kale's, and he swears revenge on ornery kids who play pranks on him, knowing he cannot chase after them.
Their relationship is portrayed effectively, with depth and sincerity. They are both smart and attractive, though Roemer cannot be reasonably compared to Grace Kelley, who was Stewart's love interest in Rear Window. Aaron Yoo is often obnoxious as the computer geek Ronnie, who gets pulled into the whole mess, mostly of his own. Morse is terrific as the menacing Turner, a real sociopath who can lay on the charm and earn the trust of his potential victims, and he is clever enough to know that he is being followed and observed, and plans accordingly.
LeBoeuf is really good here, funny and later quite intense, always convincing, more intelligent than most protagonists in thrillers, but also a creature of instinct, who occasionally does foolish and reckless things. The ending feels a little rushed, I think, but I enjoyed it greatly nonetheless. I appreciate the homage it pays to Rear Window, which should never ever be remade, as Hitchcock's distinctive directorial flourishes cannot be duplicated with any real degree of success.
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