Consider me pleasantly surprised. Given the current state of many recent teen-targeted thrillers, and the fact that the film's ad campaign goes to great lengths to assure its audience that what they're walking into is a kind of "Rear Window for the current MTV Generation", I did not exactly sit down to watch Disturbia with high hopes. The movie started, and little by little, my preconceived notions faded. While not entirely original, it holds some strong performances and a surprising amount of wit and humor that is actually funny rather than distracting. Director D.J. Caruso (Two For the Money) and screenwriters Christopher B. Landon and Carl Ellsworth (Red Eye) focus their story on likeable characters and dialogue rather than trying to cram as many jump scares in as they can. There were moments when my hope started to dim, especially during the film's climax, but it always manages to pull through and come out as a mostly enjoyable experience.

Just as Summer Vacation is about to start, troubled teen Kale (Shia LaBeouf) finds himself under government-ordered House Arrest after he gets abusive with a teacher at school. He's forced to wear an ankle bracelet monitor, and cannot leave the close proximity of his home without risking being arrested. His frustrated mother Julie (Carrie-Anne Moss) has taken away his video game and music downloading privileges, so Kale quickly begins to suffer from Cabin Fever and must find other ways to amuse himself while he's confined in his house. He begins spying on the neighbors with a pair of binoculars, and not only develops a crush on the cute new girl next door named Ashley (Sarah Roemer from The Grudge 2), but starts to uncover the secret lives that many of his well-to-do neighbors prefer to keep hidden. In particular, there seems to be strange things going on in the home of neighbor Mr. Turner (David Morse). Young women enter his house, but never come out. Not only that, Mr. Turner has been seen dragging large body-shaped garbage bags out to his garage late at night. When a series of reports of missing young girls starts hitting the evening news, Kale slowly starts to put the pieces together. With Ashley and his best friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) acting as Kale's eyes and ears in the outside world, he becomes obsessed with finding out the truth before more people could possibly be hurt.

Though the plot obviously lifts heavily from the previously mentioned Rear Window, and even a little bit from the 1988 Tom Hanks dark comedy The 'Burbs, Disturbia finds its own voice through the dialogue and its characters. While the film's ad campaign relies heavily on the thriller aspects of the film, there is also a much more honest, fun, and humorous movie to be found here as well. A good portion of the movie deals not with Kale tracking down a potential murderer in his neighborhood, but with him trying to deal with his own situation of being shut away from the world. We see him trying various things to keep himself amused, mainly out of extreme desperation. We also see him dealing with the rumors that are spread about him being under House Arrest, including some bratty kids across the street who enjoy playing pranks on him in his current situation, since they know he can't leave his yard and fight back. The characters are given time to develop and grow, and are generally a lot more easy to relate to than some main characters in most adult-targeted thrillers. The relationship that slowly builds between Kale and Ashley is sweet and does not seem forced at all. Even Kale's best friend Ronnie (who mainly acts as the comic relief) seems a bit less two-dimensional than he first appears when we meet him. The movie is wise to not throw these characters right into the thick of the plot, and give us time to get to know them and their individual situations. It makes it a lot easier to care about them when they are placed in more dire situations during the second half of the film.

When the film switches over to the thriller the commercials promise, the movie is still able to stay strong. It does not abandon the characters, the dialogue, or the occasional moment of wit. The change in tone flows naturally, and we feel like we are still watching the same characters, just in very different circumstances. The movie even manages to stage a couple suspenseful moments, such as when Ronnie sneaks into Mr. Turner's house to look for evidence, and we watch his discoveries through the eye of a small video camera that he has with him. I was pretty happy up to this point, especially since the film had managed to stay on the right track. Then Disturbia enters Act 3, and the movie briefly loses all nerve and brain. You can pinpoint the exact moment when things start to go wrong, and that's when Kale discovers and zooms in on an image that was recorded on a video tape. Here's where the climax begins, and instead of the interesting character-driven thriller we had been treated to up till now, the movie decides it wants to be a generic slasher film, complete with a seemingly-invincible villain who can be stabbed numerous times and fall from great heights and still continue with their single-minded determination to kill our heroes. The entire climax is ridiculous and took me out of the generally good mood the film had put me in. The only saving grace is that as soon as the climax is over, the movie returns to its senses and goes back to what made it work. I was certainly glad Disturbia ended on a high note. I was getting worried there for a couple minutes.

Until things go violently off track, the film is lifted up by some wonderful performances by some genuinely talented young adult actors. Shia LaBeouf has been appearing in movies for a while now after getting his start working on Disney Channel TV shows. As Kale, LaBeouf hits the exact note in every single scene he's in. He's sympathetic, he's easy to relate to, and he has a great sense of humor that helps carry the character. I look forward to seeing him grow into more adult roles, and I really hope he sticks around long enough to, as his performance here shows a great amount of potential. Sarah Roemer and Aaron Yoo are also stand outs as his two friends, as they are both able to fill out their roles well enough so that they become more than the "love interest" and the "goofy and nerdy best friend". As the mysterious and shady neighbor who drives the thriller half of the film, David Morse is an appropriately menacing presence. He perhaps does his job a bit too well, as it's hard to buy him as an innocent at times. The film is further complemented by a strong visual sense and wonderful cinematography provided by Rogier Stoffers.
The plot may be borrowed from a few too many sources, and things don't always make a lot of sense. Nonetheless, Disturbia never stops being entertaining even at its worst. The movie is almost brave in the way that it takes a mostly low-key approach, instead of trying desperately to drum up the suspense every chance it gets. When it does aim for suspense, its best when the film is trying to be subtle and creepy instead of hitting us over the head with tired monster movie cliches. Still, there's a lot of fun to be had here if you can let go of the fact that you've seen it all before. If Shia LaBeouf's career does continue on to better things, this film most likely will not be remembered as a highlight of his early career. But, at least it won't be remembered as an embarrassment.

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