Shia Lebeouf in Disturbia If there's one criticism of the brilliant Rear Window, and it's not really a criticism at all since that was an 11/10, A++, perfect film, it's that it has spawned some pretty ropey copycat efforts. Such wondrous attempts at recreating the brilliance of Hitchcock's classic have included Sliver, Red Road (a favourite of Matt's) and probably many others that I'm forgetting. The latest is DJ Caruso's Disturbia, starring the next big thing (or so it seems if you check out is CV) aka Shia Lebeouf.
Lebeouf's been acting since before he was born according to IMDb although I suspect that might be a typo. That said, he has been in films since he was a baby so he's well accustomed to being in front of a camera, however Disturbia represents the fist time he's been given a lead in a pretty big picture. He followed this with a large part in Transformers, which sadly I've not seen and have no intention of seeing and, perhaps most impressively, gets to play Harrison Ford's son in what's currently called "Fourth Installment of the Indiana Jones Adventures". So is Lebeouf worth the hype, and is Disturbia just another copy-cat effort or is it worth you time and hard earned cash? Read on intrepid reader.
Lebeouf plays Kale, who after a particularly awful (but nicely filmed) experience goes off the rails and ends up under house arrest for 3 months. Obviously having no constructive way to pass the day, he does what every sensible teen would do and starts spying on the neighbours. Now part of this is understandable as a very hot new girl moves in next door, and if spying on the neighbours was good enough for James Stewart then it's certainly good enough for Lebeouf, so Kale gets into it big time. Anyway you can guess most of the plot from there. Lebeouf thinks that the old guy, David Morse, who cuts his lawn twice a day could be a serial killer and one thing leads to another and Lebeouf, his entertaining friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) and the hot girl (Sarah Roemer) start staking out his apartment and, well I don't think I'm spoiling anything when I tell you that it would have made a pretty lousy thriller if there isn't a tense, good guy, bad guy baseball bat, garden shears style finale, and that wasn't ever on the cards if it was all a big mistake.
Lebeouf plays Kale, who after a particularly awful (but nicely filmed) experience goes off the rails and ends up under house arrest for 3 months. Obviously having no constructive way to pass the day, he does what every sensible teen would do and starts spying on the neighbours. Now part of this is understandable as a very hot new girl moves in next door, and if spying on the neighbours was good enough for James Stewart then it's certainly good enough for Lebeouf, so Kale gets into it big time. Anyway you can guess most of the plot from there. Lebeouf thinks that the old guy, David Morse, who cuts his lawn twice a day could be a serial killer and one thing leads to another and Lebeouf, his entertaining friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) and the hot girl (Sarah Roemer) start staking out his apartment and, well I don't think I'm spoiling anything when I tell you that it would have made a pretty lousy thriller if there isn't a tense, good guy, bad guy baseball bat, garden shears style finale, and that wasn't ever on the cards if it was all a big mistake.
This has all the hallmarks of your run of the mill teen thriller, but it's definitely a very good example of that genre. The characters are more entertaining that annoying, the acting is decent and the plot, whilst wholly unoriginal, has enough to it to keep you entertained. Plus points also for a great score and soundtrack, which I'll be purchasing.
B-
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