Review of Disturbia (2007) by Chads. — 18 Apr 2007
Like John Wayne Gacy, being discreet and ingratiating towards the neighbors(in this case, Kale's mom) afforded Mr. Turner(David Morse) the means to carry-on a long-term campaign of surreptitious murder.
In the overblown final act, however, Turner operates like an amateur and nearly undoes the precarious "Rear Window" meets "Ferris Bueller's Day-Off" cross-generational balancing act that "Disturbia" pulls-off with more aplomb than other films which extrapolates classic Hollywood or old English Literature.
The Hitchcock classic was really about vouyerism, about the relationship between spectator and spectacle, which on both counts, "Disturbia preserves. But there's a difference: Jimmy Stewart didn't have a hand-held video camera; he was passive just like any moviegoer, then and now.
Kale(Shia LaBeouf), on the other hand is pro-active; he shoots the action(itself a commentary on illegal taping in theaters) and crosses over into the diegesis(like Mia Farrow's character in "The Purple Rose of Cairo").
"Disturbia" makes explicit that it's a commentary on reality television, so the open windows, the differing panoramas(rather than the solitary building in "Rear Window) represent the flipping of stations, not a silver screen like in the Hitchcock film.
When Kale enters Mr. Turner's house, he's like the star of his own reality program.
This review of Disturbia (2007) was written by Chads. on 18 Apr 2007.
Disturbia has generally received positive reviews.
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