DVD Review: Disturbia

There's no getting around the fact that Disturbia is an updated version of Hitchcock's Rear Window for modern audiences. I tried thinking up way to avoid the topic, seeing as so many reviewers make sure to point it out in all of their reviews, but it's so obvious that I simple had no choice but to include it here. So there it is. The plot of the movie is centered around Kale, a teen who's life has taken a turn for the worse ever since his father died in a freak car accident over a year ago. Now, during the last few days of school, Kale seems to be completely disconnected from his school work and when a teacher questions what his father would think of his behavior, he cleans his clock. Not a smart move.

Now on a three months house arrest, Kale finds himself without itunes, no Xbox Live, and all of his classmates off enjoying the dog days of summer. All while he sits in his room building a tower out of twinkies. With the reality of the house arrest finally starting to settle in, he begins spying on his neighbors to pass the time. That's when he discovers that his neighbor Mr. Turner may be a serial killer. Once that happens he recruits both his best friend Ronnie and his new neighbor Ashley to spy on Turner, in hopes of unearthing enough evidence to bring it to the cops. But with Kale's recent history, if he were right would they even believe him?

Admittedly, while it would have been nice of the creators to credit Rear Window as the basis for their story, it's not like Hitchcock owns the concept of voyeurism. Though, for them to remain completely oblivious to the idea that Rear Window even exits, well, that is certainly suspect. It's hard for anyone working in movies today to not have an understanding of Hitchcock's work. There are workshops dedicated to how the man set up his camera where they go over his films shot by shot. It's simply impossible to go anywhere where he hasn't made a mark, he's known for his original work, his adaptations, the way he directs, you name it and he's known for something about it. The guys very own shadow is famous for crying out loud.

Still, even though Disturbia remains blissfully ignorant to Rear Window's existence, it still has plenty of charm and character unto its own. The Kale character is one of the most interesting teen roles we've seen on screen in a long time. And the way the writers managed to balance all of his internal struggles is certainly commendable. Because it's hard for someone to deal with the lost of his father, fall in love with the girl next door and then try and catch his neighbor who may or may not be a serial killer, while still making the audience believe what they're seeing and stick with it. Regardless of how far fetched it might be. And that is where Shia once again needs to be praised for his acting. Kale has so much going on in his life at this juncture that very few actors could deal with that many things required of them. But LaBeouf manages just fine.

You know, it seems like every few years there is an actor who is seemingly pushed down everyones collective throats in what seems like an endless string of movies released in a twelve month period. The more recent obvious examples being Colin Ferrel and Jude Law who, for a while there, seemed to be in every single movie released. The more recent addition to that list is almost Shia LaBeouf. Having only appeared in three movies this year, it feels like triple that due to all of the marketing blitz around the projects. And that's the reason why he's nearly reaching that point of over saturation, by way of ads alone. Or people's short attention spans, neither would surprise me.

Which is a shame, because as someone who has watched him grow as an actor from small guest roles on shows like 'Freaks & Geeks', up to his entire run on 'Even Stevens' and even his inclusion in the second season of Project Greenlight, he is without a doubt one of the best young actors working today. An actor with the charisma and talent that very few posses. He's built up a nice resume over the past few years in terms of smaller screen roles and managed to make them all memorable; movies like I, Robot, Constantine, Bobby, and A Guide to Recognizing your Saints all show how good he can be at lighting up the screen once he's in the frame. There aren't many people who can not only come out of Dumb & Dumberer unscathed, but also be the only entertaining thing about the film. That requires some real talent, folks.

As a suspense thriller, Disturbia does very little in terms of originality but makes up for it with how it manages to keep everything entertaining and moving fast enough to where we don't ask questions while watching. It spends the entire 100 minutes progressing the story forward, never back peddling or stalling for time. Disturbia is certainly one of the most rewatchable films to come out so far this year, and also one of the more enjoyable ones. Even if it is an unofficial remake.

The DVD:

Video:
(Presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen)
Paramount did a wonderful job on the visual presentation here, with noticeably fine detail throughout and no pixilation or color bleeding what so ever. And that's important for the films very stylistic look and it's very important lighting structure. The DVD transfer is handled very well, and preserves the films tone without any digital hang ups.

Audio:
(English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX, French and Spanish 5.1)
The included audio track does a wonderful job of setting the mood and atmosphere when the film calls requires it to do so. Actors are heard in complete clarity and the rear channels are used nicely during the film.

Extras:

Audio Commentary - Director D.J. Caruso is joined by actors Shia LaBeouf and Sarah Roemer to sit down and discuss the film, but it isn't very entertaining. Caruso spends most of the time saying the same things about the different shooting locations, repeatedly reminding us that upwards of three locations were combined to make up a scene. Shia does lighten it up by talking about what it was like filming, while Sarah only chimes in occasionally.

Deleted Scenes (4:35) - Four scenes are included and are mostly cut because they don't add much to the story. Most worked well in the script, but didn't translate to the screen all too well. Outtakes (1:27) - are the standard assortment of on set goofs. There are some good laughs to be found, but it's too short. The Making Of Disturbia (14:51) - Has the cast and crew talking about the movie, sharing the same kinds of information that these kinds of quick features provide. Things like what it was like working with one another, the different shooting locations and the general story. Not the most indepth extra, but is entertaining nonetheless. Serial Pursuit Trivia Pop-Up Quiz - a pop-up track that plays throughout the film and gives some pertinent info, while also throwing in some obscure bits of info, like how March 1st is National Peanut Butter Lovers Day. One down side to this feature is that it repeats a lot of facts that were mentioned in the commentary track.

Also included are a Photo Gallery, the films Theatrical Trailer (2:33), a Music Video (4:03) for This World Fair's song "Don't Make Me Wait," and Previews (13:12) for Beneath, Super Sweet 16: The Movie, She's The Man, Stardust, Blades Of Glory and Next.

Fina Thoughts:
While Disturbia isn't the best film of the year, it will certainly find a nice audience for itself. The DVD has a very nice audio/video presentation but the extras are a big disappointment for such a well received studio project. This one is probably best left as a rental, with the possibility of being a "buy" once it hits the previously viewed racks at your local video store of choice.

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