Review of Lakeview Terrace (2008) by Christopher H — 01 Aug 2011

This thriller takes quite a new approach to the theme of racism, this time it is a black guy disliking his newly moved in mixed neighbor couple. And that set up makes for some wonderfully uncomfortable scenes and a somewhat eerie atmosphere, what with the forest fires slowly approaching the street.

Jackson has plenty of scenes that give ambiguity to his character, keeping it from becoming the stereotype psychopath neighbor. We even get glimpses into the reason behind his behavior, but sadly, those aspects are not entirely fleshed out.

Unfortunately, the showdown fulfills the stereotypes you expect from such films instead of taking a different route. That's wasting a lot of opportunities to end this unexpectedly or to keep the racist cop ambiguous.

Not a bad film by any means, but after all too much restrained in the bounds of the genre.