Disturbia

Plot Outline:
After his father's death, Kale Brecht (Shia LaBeouf) becomes sullen, withdrawn, and troubled -- so much so that he finds himself under a court-ordered sentence of house arrest after a run in with the law. His mother, Julie (Carrie-Ann Moss), works night and day to support herself and her son, only to be met with indifference and lethargy. The walls of his house begin to close in on Kale. He becomes a voyeur as his interests turn outside the windows of his suburban home towards those of his neighbors, one of which Kale begins to suspect is a serial killer. But, are his suspicions merely the product of cabin fever and his overactive imagination?

Overall Impressions:
Didn't read the tagline, don't see the trailer or know anything about the film? You're probably better off, and in that case it's a total winner. Unfortunately the marketing for this has been done in such a way that it reveals all too much. I was lucky enough not to have seen anything, but I guess a lot of people may not be.

The stup is simple but effective. The film opens up with the fatal accident that scars Kale deeply with the loss of his father. One year later when he hasn't done his homework and sleeps through class, his teacher disgustfully asks him what he thinks his father would have thought of him? As an instant reflexive action he punches the teacher in the face. As he gets prosecuted, the judges appreciate his mental scarring through a loss of a parent & give him a small sentence of 3 months house arrest. He s warned that it may seem lke a breeze but after a few days he may suffer from disturbia and strange thinking.

(Now anyone that knows me & my friends knows, this is no big deal, all you need is your xbox & an internet connection & and you'd be set, for this reason we have a scene specifically showing he has had his xbox live subscription & iTunes account revoked by his dear mother.)

With his new constraints with the addition of ample spare time he soon finds himself bored. So, he picks up his binoculars & does that whole people watching thing. As a perfect resolution to the first act, a hot single girl moves in next door, just as he picks up this new found hobby.

The second act continues quite smoothly. It's from here that the fun begins, as he stalks his neighbourhood, as well as finding out numerous amusing little secrets, he also stumbles into what would seem to be a potential murderer. His car has damage that seems to match a news description connected to a missing girl.

*Spoler Alert*
See its here that you have your doubts about whether it's real or his imagination playing with him. Are the clues all fitting together to prove that his neighbour is in fact a serial-killer or is his paranoia getting the better of him & this is exactly the feeling I got. The ambiguity really does work for it, alas the publicity tells it all to you.

From here knowing how it's all panned out, there can only be one real resolution really, and so the final act becomes much like the third act of a slasher flick. Chase here chase there, screams of pain, screams of terror, a few dead people & finally a dead bad guy. The good guys win, woohoo! Let's just say everything special it had gathered was thrown away at the latter part of the second act.

Now the way I would have handled it would probably reflect something like the end of American Psycho, leave the ambiguity pending, they still could have used the exact same third act, but with an additional spin of him perhaps dealing with his paranoia on a subconscious leve or something of that sort.

Anyway, that's just me, its an enjoyable film as is, I merely though it could have done with that little bit more.

Possible moral of the story:
Being paranoid is probably a bad thing, watching your neighbour's each & every move, learning their dirty little secrets, not so bad, just don't be idiotic enough to get caught. If you decide to take on such a sport, you should be in the power position where you have the information you can use to get these people into trouble. Don't risk reversing that position, else you & yours become victims & that is definitely bad.

Enjoyable, modern day thriller, which probably had more potential to be a smart film rather than a generic money-spinner, a pity in that sense, but as I said, enjoyable none-the-less. Would recommend.