There's nothing like a good thriller and I could say that Disturbia is nothing like a good thriller. But surprisingly I won't as this sleeper hit of last year actually hit's more high notes than flats.
Amusingly named teenager Kale Brecht (Shia Lebeouf) has gone a bit off the rails since ... Read review
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A review by utero on Disturbia (HD DVD) February 8th, 2008
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Liked it
Story
Satisfactory
Characters / Performances
Good
Special Effects
Standard
How does it compare to similar films?
Good
Advantages:
Well paced, well directed, decent cast, good suspense
Disadvantages:
Essentially Rear Window with a house arrest
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
There's nothing like a good thriller and I could say that Disturbia is nothing like a good thriller. But surprisingly I won't as this sleeper hit of last year actually hit's more high notes than flats.
Amusingly named teenager Kale Brecht (Shia Lebeouf) has gone a bit off the rails since the death of his father in a road accident a year earlier. When he punches a teacher in class he finds himself consigned to house arrest in a bid to make him see sense. Leaving a teenager at home by himself isn't great punishment and Kale spends his time on Xbox, TV and developing an interest of watching what's going on in the neighbourhood around him.
When a good looking girl moves in next door, Kale get's the binoculars out more as she likes to frolic around in a bikini. The little perv soon attracts her attention and she joins his spying.
But when they notice that one neighbour's activities tie into the disappearance of a woman they soon turn their attentions to his nocturnal habits. Could he just be a innocent man or are they living next door to a serial killer who won't take kindly to kids snooping around.
Disturbia works because it's pretty tightly paced and features only a handful of characters. I suppose you could call it an update on Rear Window with one man confined to one place while danger unfolds in front of his eyes. The acting is pretty good, Lebeouf is probably the best of the bunch at the moment and manages to tread the line between being annoying and amusing on the right side. David Morse as the neighbour is one of those actors who comes across as trustworthy but can also be a real nasty piece of work. It's also nice to see The Matrix's Carrie Anne Moss as the mum, I have to be honest and say I didn't recognize her at first.
Director DJ Caruso has made some decent films before which haven't received a lot of attention but his background in TV crime drama comes to the fore with some great staging of action. The final act is a good mix of scares, suspense and action.
I think the reason people went to see it is that it's just well made and just because it's a film with teenagers, it doesn't pander to the teen genre and throw in a bunch of MOR American rock tracks and cheesy moments. In my opinion it's actually old-fashioned filmmaking at heart.
- The DVD -
I watched the film on HD-DVD and the transfer has a strong sharp look. It's not a film for lush cinematography but this is a decent representation of the format but not reference quality.
The soundtrack is actually livelier than you'd think. In the final act there are some good surround sound moments as the tension ramps up. I was pleasantly surprised.
- Extras -
The audio commentary features Director Caruso as well as stars Leboeuf and Sarah Roemer. The track is a lot of fun, not technical but just 90 minutes of jokes, humour and random behind the scenes stories.
The HD-DVD has a pop-up option that will throw trivia up on the screen throughout the film. Personally I find these kinds of features redundant.
The making of is around 14-minutes and does a good job of givig a small insight into what went into the production from the idea through to casting and stunts.
There a small bunch of deleted scenes, nothing special. Most just add a little more flesh to characters such as Carrie Anne Moss'.
Rounding out the disc is an MOR rock video for the film from This World Fair. Yes I've never heard of them either.
There's also a photo gallery as well as trailer.
- Finally-
I enjoyed Disturbia much more than I thought I would. It tells a simple story well and sometimes that's all you ask for in a film.
Advantages: Great teen thriller Disadvantages: Nothing new for older viewers
Disturbia is in ways like a flashback to the 1980’s, during that period a series of teen horror or thriller movies bought adult genre’s to a younger audience. Prime examples of this were The Lost Boys and Fright Night, both had a sort of cult mentality about them and the kids loved them. Turn the clock back three to four months and in America Disturbia had much the same effect, a new generation of cinema viewer gets a bit of teen mush wrapped in ... ...and a terrible secret!
Disturbia is very much a remake of Rear Window for the new Millennia, it has of course been given some very modern elements and products to bring it up to date, but anyone denying a similarity between the two movies is a liar. The format is obviously very different in Rear Window James Stewart or Christopher Reeve depending on the version were trapped in a wheelchair, here Kale has one of those security anklets, once he ventures ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Fairly good suspense thriller. Disadvantages: 2007 version of the rear window but no way near has good.
Before the Cynics come out to play saying it’s not out yet I went see this film whilst on holiday in Orlando.
Film Only Review.
Plot Summary –
The film starts with kale(Shia LeBeouf) and his father fishing to a backdrop of rolling mountains and lush fields.
Kale loses his father in a car crash returning from the said fishing trip and over the next year goes into melt down which culminates in him punching his Spanish teacher and Kale being put ... ...his mum Julie(Carrie-Anne Moss) cuts him off from his Xbox 360 and iTunes forcing him to venture around the house and even the garden.
Whilst on one of his visits to the garden he notices the new very good looking girl next door this would be Ashley(Sarah Roemer) and sets upon spying on her with best buddy Ronnie(Aaron Yoo).
Upon spying on her while she works out and swims he notices another neighbour with the same car that is linked with the abduction ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Great jumpy thriller reminiscing of the classic 80s films Disadvantages: none whatsoever
MOVIE REVIEW ONLY
Every killer lives next door to someone , this is gotta be one of the thrillers of the year for me, no predictable once upon a times in this movie, it starts off with Kale<Shia LaBeouf> involved in a tradedy which gets you hooked from the begining, Kale<Shia LaBeouf> then becomes a bit of a problematic teenager he is placed under house arrest for punching his spanish teacher in class.
Kale occupies himself by spying on his neighbours, ... ...one of the quiet neversee neighbours Mr. Turner<David Morse> along the way he gets friendly with his newly moved in neighbour Ashley<Sarah Roemer>, while being stuck under house arrest, Kale finds himself watching many a news report where missing girl reports keep cropping up, this seems to set a warning light as the neversee neighbours seems to fit the description, after spying on neighbours with his trusty binocloirs he seems to witness what appears ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
