DVD Review: Disturbia
Source: Latino Review
FILM: Rating=C
BLU-RAY Rating: C+
When good kid Shia LaBeouf ends up in a fatal car accident with his dad, his life begins to spiral out of control. Blaming himself for the accident, LaBeouf engages in inappropriate behavior and is soon standing before a judge after punching his High School Spanish teacher in the face. Rather than give the boy a recommended one-year sentence in juvy, the sympathetic judge forces LaBeouf to live under house arrest for three months.
LeBeouf finds enjoyment spying on his neighbors through binoculars. Things get really interesting when beauty Sarah Roemer moves in next door. He finds delight watching her frolic in the swimming pool, change clothes in her room or read a good book on her rooftop. It isn't long before she catches on to his voyeurism and uses his incarceration as a method of teasing him. As their relationship slowly develops another house in the neighborhood catches their attention. The owner is none other than hulking nice guy David Morse who spends way too much time mowing his lawn and hauling garbage out of his garage. With reports of a missing girl circling the news, LaBeouf notices that Morse is from the same state as an unidentified serial killer and happens to drive the same vintage car that the missing girl was last seen getting into. Roemer and LaBeouf's best friend Aaron Yoo initially think his "cabin fever" is making him paranoid, but soon see the similarities between Morse and the killer, making them wonder if something creepy is going on in the neighborhood.
"Disturbia" is an engaging film that works on many levels, but surprisingly, the thriller elements are the least interesting aspects of the picture. The film has a wonderful set-up. Rather than throw us into the thriller mix, there is proper dramatic development as we see how the guilt within LeBeouf's character has evolved since his dad's death and the rift between he and his mother continues to grow. He approaches the character not just as an immature teenage boy, but an intelligent young man who even finds it difficult setting foot in his father's study. Even his yearning for a beautiful young girl like Roemer is genuine and the two converse like real teenagers do; their dialogue doesn't feel scripted. After the first hour, "Disturbia" takes a misstep into generic thriller territory. As LeBeouf and Yoo continue to spy on Morse and figure out whether or not he's stuffing dead girls into his closets or the trunk of his car, their antics become tiresome. In this type of cat and mouse game, we know that Morse will figure out what they're up to, be prepared for their accusations that involve the authorities and make them look like little boys crying wolf. Even when they eventually finally get to the truth, the chase sequences in and around both homes is boring and runs too long. The killer begins as a highly intelligent individual and then makes stupid rash decisions at the eleventh hour because the movie is almost over. As a drama with the occasional bit of romance and comedy, "Disturbia" works in large part due to LeBeouf's performance. As a thriller, well, we've seen it all before. I leave the choice up to you because the first half of the film is quite good.
VIDEO: I'm still trying to figure out if Disturbia was shot using High Definition video cameras, because the video transfer on this Blu-ray disc is one of the best I've ever seen. I saw the film in theatres on a DLP digital projection set-up and although 1080p video for the home has no where near that resolution, this picture comes very close. I couldn't detect film artifacts or any bit of grain. DP Rogier Stoffers shot the picture rather beautifully with golden daytime lighting and creepy and stark moods for the nighttime scenes. On top of that, the footage from the deleted scenes and outtake sections don't look like scratched and abused trimmed film, but as clear as if they were part of the movie itself. The picture is presented in its original 1.85 to 1 aspect ratio.
SOUND: I'm so pleased that Paramount and DreamWorks' home video divisions are back on their A-game and putting effort into the sound mixes of their high definition video releases. Word is that they will soon explore lossless audio, but Disturbia has an impressive Dolby Digital 5.1 mix at 640 kbps and a DTS ES 6.1 mix at 1.5 mbps. The DTS track is obviously the winner and from the splash of the little boy's fishing line in the DreamWorks opening logo you can detect this mix has good bass and spatiality for a film that’s about voyeurism. The rear and center surround channels aren't always engaged, but this is an atmospheric soundtrack that features well mixed dialogue.
The audio commentary featuring director D.J. Caruso as well as stars LaBeouf and Roemer is a rather lively one. Caruso tries to give as much technical information as he can, while the two stars demonstrate their comfort around each other that carries over to the screen. LaBeouf's statements get a little too profane at times, but its obvious he has knowledge of how films are constructed and is determined to work to make the film look better rather than just him.
EXTRAS: The Making of Disturbia is a 15 minute featurette that's not really all that special and is of the HBO behind-the-scenes variety. There's a “Serial Pursuit Trivia Track” that can pop up throughout the film like VH1's "Pop-up video" but thank goodness you have the choice to disable it because it’s rather annoying.
Also annoying is a music video for This World Fair's "Don't Make Me Wait" (4:03), the song that is heard when LaBeouf and Roemer finally kiss in the film. Weak extras like this are made up by the inclusion of the brief yet hilarious gag reel (1:26) and four deleted scenes (“Do You Want To Talk?”, “I Forbid It”, “Operation Stupid” and “You’re Breaking My Heart”
(4:08) that are all presented in HD. We also get the film's cool theatrical trailer (2:31) that like the movie is presented in Dolby 5.1 audio.
When all is said and done, this is a nifty little video release that has reference quality picture and sound.
t:It seems that on a lot of aspects i.e details/execution we have been agreeing for ages now without realising
