I based my decision to watch this film almost entirely off of what I saw on the DVD case. Shia LaBeof…creepy, menacing binoculars…I’m interested. Unfortunately for me, I was drawn in like a fly to a bug light because, contrary to what the front cover says, Disturbia is anything but “a scorching nail-biter that will have you jumping out of your seat”. Allow me to explain.

To begin with, the storyline is not exactly original. Kale, a teenage boy deeply affected by his father’s death, is put under house arrest after assaulting a teacher at school. With nothing else to do, Kale begins to routinely observe his neighborhood and soon witnesses some strange events occurring inside one man’s house that drags Kale and everyone he cares for into life-threatening danger (…Hitchcock’s Rear Window, anyone?). 

And when I say “drags”, I mean it. For being labeled as a thriller, Disturbia has very little thrill involved. The advancement of plot is so slow, I was about three fourths of the way through before anything frightening occurred, and even then it is very overdone and very unoriginal. The overall feel of the film ends up being more teen-flick-y than anything else. After a while, I found myself only half-caring about what happened to anyone in the end. Even if it wasn’t so closely related to Hitchcock’s film, I don’t feel like writer Christopher Landon or director D.J. Caruso did a proper job in making Disturbia stand out on its own.

The fact that Steven Spielberg had been an executive producer was a complete surprise for me. There are a few moments of amusement throughout that remind me a little of Spielberg’s humor, but besides that, this film really doesn’t feel connected with his expertise at all.

The original soundtracks also lacked a strong, unique quality and made me more annoyed than freaked out. Disturbia mostly uses the method of music shrieking when something pops surprisingly onto the screen, which works, but if it’s used too often on things that aren’t even scary (i.e. the character turning around and seeing their best friend instead of a murderer), it gets a little redundant and makes me question if the director really knows how to scare an audience.

I was generally disappointed in the acting as well. It wasn’t that it was bad, it just felt very generic and flat. I had seen good things from Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix trilogy) and had heard good things about David Morse (The Green Mile), but neither seemed especially electrifying in their Disturbia roles. It may have had something to do with the way the characters were written, but it just felt like the mother was a mother and the creepy man was a creepy man, nothing more.  

On the other hand, Shia LaBeouf (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) probably brought the most believablity to this film for me. It’s ironic, considering he use to make a living in teenage media as Louis Stevens on Disney Channel’s Even Stevens, but had I not watched that TV show, I would’ve never believed him to be the same actor. LaBeouf’s ability to conform so smoothly to a character is probably the reason why his career has come out of Disturbia unscathed. He is definitely an actor to keep an eye on.

To be honest, unless you’re a diehard LaBeouf fanatic, I would not recommend this movie. There really isn’t anything in it that we haven’t seen before. You’d be better off sticking with Rear Window and catching Transformers or Indiana Jones for your LaBeouf fix.

The team that could do no wrong in the 1980s (George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford) have reunited for the sequel that we never thought would happen - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  It’s been a long time since any of these guys have had a bona-fide hit, (the Star Wars prequels don’t count because most fans of the original films really don’t like them), but did they return to greatness with Indy IV?

Let me preface this review by stating that Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite movie of all time.  I’m also a huge Indiana Jones fan.  Despite this, I had relatively low expectations for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull due to the lackluster films that the guys mentioned earlier have made in the last 15 years.  Still, the Indy fanboy in my was pretty darn excited when the Lucasfilm logo appeared on the screen last night and the movie began.

The first half of the movie is the answer to the prayers of all Indy fans.  Action, drama, well-placed humor, nods to the previous films, and an older, but maybe not wiser, Indiana Jones.  I totally accepted Indy in 1957 and the storyline had me curious.  The intro of Mutt Williams, (played by Shia Labeouf), works well, too.

But, the second half of the movie was a bit of a let down.  The action/fight scenes are drawn out too long, the humor is overplayed, and the whole crux of the movie just doesn’t hold up to any of the previous films.  Cate Blanchett’s villainous Irina Spalko, is pretty lame, too, compared to the baddies in the first two films, but on par with Walter Donovan from the Last Crusade. Bottom line is that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has the weakest overall story of the four Indy films, and the mystery in this one is just so-so.

Having said all of that, it’s Indiana Jones!!! Go see this movie in the theater.  As with all of the previous Indy movies, it’s got a huge scope, and I liked a great deal about it.  First and foremost, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) is back!  The best of Indy’s love interests from the movies, Marion could hold her own with Indy in Raiders, and she fares pretty well in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Harrison Ford has been in slump for the last 15 years, but he hits it out of the park here.  His portrayal of Indy is nostalgic and refreshing at the same time.

John Williams’ score is excellent.  He weaves elements from the three previous films into a new tapestry of music for the film and it does what all good scores do - it enhances, and becomes part of, the movie.

With one viewing of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I would rank it just about even with, or slightly better than, The Last Crusade, but not as good as Temple of Doom and nowhere near as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark.  But it’s a solid sequel that most fans of the series should enjoy.

It gets a grade of B/B-.

Thanks for reading.

Marc
Sideshow Movie Collectibles