Review of Disturbia (2007) by Seth B — 07 Dec 2012

''You do this thing where, it's like an OCD thing but it's not. It's um... whenever you're leaving your room, you grab the door knob, you turn it and you're getting ready to leave but you don't. You stop and you back and you turn to the mirror and you stare at yourself. But it's not like a, ya know, an "I'm-so-hot" kind of stare. It's more like "Who am I really?" and asking yourself that... I mean, that's... that's so cool. So you look out the window all the time like I do, only you're looking at the world ya know? tryin' to figure it out, trying to understand the world. Trying to figure out why it's not in order like your books. Umm... I'm only looking at you.''.

Kale is a troubled teen who after his Dad is taken in a fatal car crash is adjusting to life at a buzzing suburb. After assaulting his teacher due to a comment on his father he is put under house arrest where boredom sinks in. Soon Kale begins to watch his neighbours amongst other activities, finding odd goings on, romance from the girl next door and a very odd guy living opposite who may be hiding some dark secrets.

Shia LaBeouf : Kale Brecht. Another boyish role for Shia, his way of speaking was reminiscent of Transformers as was his acting style. Maybe needs variation in future roles but still has that charisma there.

Sarah Roemer : Ashley Carlson. The girl next door and the love interest of Kale. Good chemistry with Shia.

Carrie-Anne Moss : Julie Brecht. Nice to see Carrie in a new role, still gives a reasonable performance.

David Morse : Robert Turner. He's brilliant as the creepy neighbour. Poses questions at his intentions throughout.

Aaron Yoo : Ronnie. Was a fun character, friend of Kale.

Jose Pablo Cantillo : Officer Gutierrez. The cousin of Kale's Spanish teacher, who possibly bears a grudge against Kale.

It started off relatively uninteresting and sad yet it soon got the ball rolling half way. Seen through Kale's perspective we watch his every move as his under house arrest.

Some tense moments, romance and action. Good soundtrack.

There was some great scene's and the finale was really clever. Draws alot of inspiration from Rear Window, Psycho and the recent inferior When A Stranger Calls.

An above par thriller & tense/romance/feel good movie that really becomes a rip roaring roller-coaster at it's conclusion and 2nd half.