Disturbia
(Blu-ray/HD-DVD/DVD-Video)
Picture:
B/B/B- Sound: B/B/B- Extras:
C Film: C
I so
liked Shia LaBeouf in The Greatest Game
Ever Played that it is no surprise that he is on the rise as potentially
the next big star. D.J. Caruso’s Disturbia (2007) is simply nothing more
than Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window
(1954) for teens, very watered down, but that was enough for it to be an
off-season hit. Instead of an accident,
Kale (LaBeouf) is stuck at home with a leg monitor for house arrest. His father died in a terrible accident and
when one of his school teachers brings it up in a frankly inappropriate way,
Kale assaults him and lands up in court.
He also
has some new neighbors moving in, beginning of the month we guess. One is a family who has a daughter (Sarah
Roemer) he is attracted to and another neighbor (David Morse) who is an
eccentric introvert. However, there is a
series of murders being reported on the news, and Kale suddenly starts to connect
it to the lone eccentric. Is he going
stir-crazy or is he right? You can guess
which, or the film is going to end in far less than this one’s 104 minutes
length.
Therefore,
the performances and some amusing touches make this watchable, but not
necessarily rewatchable. That is unless
you are younger and don’t know what Rear
Window is. Give it a few years as
LaBeouf does more films like Transformers and it will be apparent to fans how
lightweight this really is. At least it
is not a total mess like most would-be thrillers of late.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot by Roger Stoffers, N.S.C. and looks
good, but not great in both HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
It is even more of an issue in the anamorphically enhanced DVD-Video
version. I had just seen this in 35mm
and the print was in good shape. There
is something wrong and limited in the video master, which is the exact same one
for all three format releases. Color,
definition and detail are still good for a new release, but something is just
not totally clear and true to the way this was intended to be seen versus that
film print. The result is a slightly
strained look throughout in all three cases.
All three discs have Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, dubbed “Plus” on the HD-DVD,
all really equal in their mixed sonic presentation. Fortunately, the Blu-ray and HD-DVD also
offer a somewhat better DTS ES 6.1 mix that is more like it, with fuller
dialogue and a slightly better soundfield.
Extras include deleted scenes, outtakes/bloopers, quiz, stills, a making
of featurette, Music Video tie-in and amusing audio commentary by Caruso,
LaBeouf and Roemer.
The
playback video footage on the Blu-ray and HD-DVD are in HD and oddest of all in
all formats, the deleted scenes look better than the actual footage of the
entire main feature.
- Nicholas Sheffo
