Disturbia follows the well trodden feet of its genre, but provides a high entertaining, engrossing and non cheesy example of how to do this movie right.
The premise of the movies follows Kale who having recently lost his father goes off the rails and assaults his teacher. This leads to him being put under house arrest, electronically tagged that sound an alarm if he leaves the boundaries of his home. What follows is Kale's obsession in watching his neighbours day after day. Whilst following close attention to a hot new girl who just moved in next door, his sights are drawn to a middle aged guy, who after seeing a news report on a serial killer Kale is convinced he fits the profile.
This one really surprised me. Without giving spoilers this type of movie, that was all the rage, in the 90s and the early 00s, rarely interested me. However the subtly of this movie elevated it from the pointless serial killer type movies we all seen before. That being said the opening scene was completely pointless. It seemed like they had a budget and wanted to use it, because a action car crash, didn't seem in-keeping with the rest of the movie and wasn't at all necessary as there are no call backs to it.
The acting here by a young Shia LeBeouf is a at a career high. All of the supplementary actors are so-so, whist they are not bad at all we really could have had any of them replaced without any detriment to the overall presentation. That being said David Morse was chilling at times. LeBeouf less replaceable here, he put in a real shift here as a believable teen who becomes obsessed by his environment and neighbours.
Whilst the concept of the movie is not 100% original (what is) the execution is very good and high entertaining. The direction of the movie is excellent and the suspense is well executed, particularly as the movie progresses to a climax. The soundtrack is different. A range of indie and rock and very 90s, however for the most part the songs are well chosen for the vibe they were going for.
The premise of the movies follows Kale who having recently lost his father goes off the rails and assaults his teacher. This leads to him being put under house arrest, electronically tagged that sound an alarm if he leaves the boundaries of his home. What follows is Kale's obsession in watching his neighbours day after day. Whilst following close attention to a hot new girl who just moved in next door, his sights are drawn to a middle aged guy, who after seeing a news report on a serial killer Kale is convinced he fits the profile.
This one really surprised me. Without giving spoilers this type of movie, that was all the rage, in the 90s and the early 00s, rarely interested me. However the subtly of this movie elevated it from the pointless serial killer type movies we all seen before. That being said the opening scene was completely pointless. It seemed like they had a budget and wanted to use it, because a action car crash, didn't seem in-keeping with the rest of the movie and wasn't at all necessary as there are no call backs to it.
The acting here by a young Shia LeBeouf is a at a career high. All of the supplementary actors are so-so, whist they are not bad at all we really could have had any of them replaced without any detriment to the overall presentation. That being said David Morse was chilling at times. LeBeouf less replaceable here, he put in a real shift here as a believable teen who becomes obsessed by his environment and neighbours.
Whilst the concept of the movie is not 100% original (what is) the execution is very good and high entertaining. The direction of the movie is excellent and the suspense is well executed, particularly as the movie progresses to a climax. The soundtrack is different. A range of indie and rock and very 90s, however for the most part the songs are well chosen for the vibe they were going for.