DISTURBIA
"Man, I wish we were over there. Those people are watching Rear Window!"
"Man, I wish we were over there. Those people are watching Rear Window!"Every now and then I see a movie that I hate more than I probably should. When I first saw the previews for Disturbia, I was angered that someone had the audacity to basically remake Rear Window with a bunch of unknowns without giving the original movie any credit. (At the time I didn't know who Shia was. Now I know he's a guy that likes to say, "No.")
Then the film got some good reviews. It's still only a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, but that's more than it deserves. I couldn't help but dwell on all of the stupid things that I noticed: either lacks of logic or elements that were totally unnecessary.
To name a "few":
THERE BE SPOILERS!
#1: The film opens with Shia's father being killed in a car accident. It's actually done really well to start with. An erratic SUV pulls ahead of them on a two lane road. They're following for a bit when it suddenly swerves out of the way, revealing a stalled car right in front of us.
Shia hits it, and his car goes flying, flipping upside-down. The problem comes when both father and son seem alright only to have another truck plow into the passenger side, killing the dad.
The truck showed no signs of even hitting its brakes. There's no reason this truck wouldn't have been able to see the wreck in time to at least slow down. Even if the stalled car had been around a blind curve (it wasn't), Shia's car flew a few hundred feet past it.
Also, the people standing on the side of the road next to their stalled car never make an appearance, apparently unconcerned with either checking on the crash victims or stopping the speeding truck.
#2: Killing the father was totally unnecessary in the first place. They wanted to make us feel bad for Shia and sympathize with his bad behavior. Do they really think I'm not going to be on the side of a guy who's trying to catch a killer and no one believes him? Just give him a dead-beat dad if you're that worried about it.
#3: A year later, Shia is acting up in Spanish class. That is, he's asleep, and when he's asked to answer a question, it's clear he knows hardly any Spanish. But it's supposed to be the week before summer. If he didn't know more Spanish than this, he wouldn't have made it this far in the class.
#4: The teacher tries to be understanding with Shia and mentions something about his father, causing him to punch the guy. This, along with three priors that remain unexplained, results in Shia being placed under house arrest for three months.
The only reason they set it during the summer was so he wouldn't have to miss school while he's under house arrest.
So you're telling me that a movie that opens with killing off the father, has a kid punch out his teacher, and features a serial killer living next door decides to play it safe by not making the kid miss school?
#5: Shia is fitted with an anklet that will alert police if he strays beyond a certain distance from the house. He meets the cop that's assigned to him, who just happens to be the cousin of the teacher he punched.
While it's mildly addressed later, wouldn't this be a HUGE conflict of interests? Also, he is apparently the only cop that ever responds to the anklet going off (either with other cops or alone). He must be hanging out around the place just waiting for Shia to screw up.
#6: Shia tries to kill some time by playing XBOX online, but he's suddenly thrown off because his account is no longer active. (His mother canceled it.) He'd still have no trouble playing a game the normal way, but he abandons all hope and moves on to other things.
#7: His mother returns home to find him lazily watching TV in his room. When he accuses her of being dramatic, it's clear she's going to do something drastic. Thankfully they spared me by not having her smash the TV. Instead, she cuts the power cord.
Considering she's canceled his XBOX Live and iTunes subscription in order to pay the incarceration fee, you'd think she'd consider selling his TV for some cash.
Also, we've already seen him watching an even bigger TV in the living room, so it doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
#8: Shia answers his doorbell to find a flaming bag of poop that he stomps out with his sock-covered feet. A guy that's gotten in trouble with the law four times doesn't know this old trick?
#9: While out in his yard, he hides when he sees the new hot next-door neighbor (Ashley) driving down the street and into her driveway. But she already saw him get handcuffed on his front lawn when his anklet brought the police. How could any interaction with her possibly embarrass him further?
#10: Shia is awoken to his neighbor (the killer) coming home late at night, driving a shiny blue rare classic car with a dented left fender, which exactly matches the description mentioned on TV earlier that a kidnapper may have been driving.
But Shia doesn't call the police or even mention any of this to his mother. It would be perfectly reasonable to do so. In fact, having the police investigate at this point and find nothing would increase the stakes by making him reluctant to contact them again.
#11: Shia lets his Asian friend (Ronnie) in on his hunch, and they do some research. Turns out police suspect the recent disappearances are related to a similar thing that happened in Texas a few years prior, where, after the killer moved out, dead bodies were found hidden in the house.
They didn't track him down because he used a fake name. So apparently he left no fingerprints, no neighbors could describe him, and none of the local businesses that he frequented had video surveillance footage. Because based on how the killer lives in this new neighborhood, the police would have no trouble tracking him down once he moved away.
#12: Shia, Ronnie, and Ashley stake out the killer but find no evidence of foul play, other than his taste in redheaded club-going women.
Later that night while alone, Shia notices the woman running around the killer's house in a panic, trying to get out. He tries to film it, when suddenly his camcorder flashes.
Yes, many camcorders have flashes, but I know from experience that they are a pain to activate. Having one go off by accident is ridiculous.
#13: Shia never shows this footage of a woman in distress to anyone because moments later, after hiding for a bit, he sees her getting into her car and leaving. But as we later find out, she didn't leave. She's dead. So why doesn't she show up as a missing person? Because then Shia would have been able to show that footage to someone and get the killer arrested, that's why.
#14: Ashley throws a party, which Shia obviously can't attend. He accuses her of trying to conform. That is, not punch teachers in the face, I guess.
#15: Shia tries to ruin her party by playing loud annoying music. She storms over and threatens to throw his iPod off the balcony. When he's forced to admit that he's been spying on her, he mentions a number of cute things he's witnessed, including how she reads real books and not magazines.
This is coming from a guy who's played videogames, spied on people, and built a tower of Twinkies instead of cracking open one of the hundreds of books in his dead father's library. Why the hell would he be impressed with someone reading?
#16: Later that night while at Shia's place, Ashley spots the killer dragging a bloody bag into his garage. The next day, they make Ronnie sneak into the killer's car while he's gone. He's at a hardware store, where Ashley is spying on him to make sure he's still away from home.
She insists on sending pictures through her phone to prove that the killer is still in the store. What's the freaking point? You can just tell him that.
Plus, why even spy on the guy? She could acknowledge that she sees him and act like she's having a normal phone conversation. Ask his opinion on the shovels he's looking at. Anything to make sure he doesn't leave her sight. Instead, she hides from him and then loses track of him.
#17: That is, until he pops up in front of her car in the parking lot. And leans in through the open(?) passenger window, lets himself in, locks the door, and says creepy vaguely threatening things implying that they should stay out of his business, while occasionally touching her in inappropriate ways.
She could have easily mentioned this incident to anyone of authority which might possibly have led to an investigation of this guy. He could have told her to stop spying on him without seeming like he was about to rape her.
#18: Shia gets the blueprints to the killer's house so easily, I have to assume he Googled "blueprint to the killer's house." And that he has the capability of printing them on blueprint paper straight from his computer at home.
#19: He then rigs a home security system so that Ronnie can sneak in with a video camera that will transit its image to his computer screen. When did he suddenly become MacGuyver? And where did he get the money for this thing?
#20: Shia is supposed to keep an eye out while Ronnie sneaks into the garage and checks the bloody bag, but instead he insists on watching the live feed, putting his friend in intense peril.
#21: When Ronnie goes missing, Shia runs over to save him, which of course causes the police to show up. He tells them Ronnie is in the house and that the killer has a bag with a body in it. (Ronnie confirmed the bag had blood and hair in it.) They pull it out, but it contains a deer carcass.
Still..wtf? No one questions why the hell the killer is keeping a rotting deer carcass? And WHY does he have it? Did he know Shia would call the police over and needed a cover? Is it always in his garage to mask the smell of the other dead bodies?
#22: Shia's mom wants to go talk to the killer to hopefully get him not to press charges. Shia obviously doesn't want her to because he thinks the guy is a killer, but he gives in to her demands pretty easily considering his friend is MISSING and perhaps DEAD.
#23: Ronnie plays a practical joke by sending Shia a text that says to check his TV which shows Ronnie in a closet which turns out to be Shia's closet and when Shia opens it he yells and scares him. Not only is this overly elaborate but also it's incredibly inappropriate.
#24: Shia zooms in on an image from footage taken inside the house to reveal a body wrapped in plastic hidden behind an air vent. But he zooms in impossibly far and makes the image clearer than it originally was.
#25: Around the same time that Shia discovers this, the killer slams his mother's face against a wall, then appears seconds later in Shia's house to hit Ronnie across the face with a bat. But later Shia finds his mom tied up down in a weird basement/well thing which would have taken about ten minutes to accomplish.
#26: The killer attacks Shia, who tries to unplug the monitor for his anklet so the police will show up. But each time the killer gets closer, he lets go of it instead of just ripping it from the wall.
#27: He runs outside, trying to go beyond the radius and set off the anklet. The killer grabs him, struggling to keep him back until he finally knocks Shia out. This entire time, Shia doesn't scream in an attempt to alert the neighbors.
#28: The killer ties up Shia and explains that he's going to kill his mother and Ronnie and then Shia himself, making it look like a murder-suicide. Good plan, I guess, but not sure how he was going to accomplish that if he has bashed in Shia's brain with a baseball bat as he was trying to do earlier.
#29: In fact, why is the killer even bothering to kill them in the first place? He doesn't know that Shia has any concrete evidence. And even if he feels that he's been compromised, it's not like he can kill them and just stay in his place without being investigated. He'd have to leave town anyway, so why chance getting caught while attempting to kill three people?
#30: Ashley shows up and saves Shia for the time being. They barricade themselves in his room. The phone doesn't work. But Shia never attempts to sabotage his anklet, which as we were told point blank earlier in the film, would send the police his way.
#31: When the killer starts to bust down the door, they jump from his room to her swimming pool, and he goes after his mom. But Ashley doesn't bother calling the police and explaining everything that's just happened. Just because the police are on their way doesn't mean they shouldn't know what the hell is going on.
#32: The dispatcher calls the cousin cop to report the anklet violation even though his shift is over. He says he'll take it but waits to finish his meal first.
I don't buy this for a minute. This cop has loved busting Shia's balls, and now he wants to sit around and wait? Totally unrealistic. This was the time they were going to haul Shia off to jail. The guy should be running red lights to get there.
#33: While looking for his mom, Shia crawls into vents and rarely checks behind himself even though he knows the killer wasn't incapacitated in any way and could appear behind him at any moment.
#34: During his search, Shia finds a redheaded wig and the valuables that belonged to the club girl. So this can only mean that she's dead and the killer PUT ON A WIG before driving her car away.
Are you freaking kidding me? If Shia (or anyone else) had gotten more than a glance at him, it would have looked ridiculous. David Morse (who plays the killer) is 6 feet, 4 inches tall! He's supposed to pass for a woman?!
#35: Shia hears his mom's muffled murmuring from what turns out to be hundreds of feet away but can't hear the cop calling out to ask if anyone is home. Oh, but the cop can hear when Shia slides open a door.
#36: The killer breaks the cop's neck. Nothing wrong with this, technically, but I felt bad for him.
#37: After killing the killer, Shia and the mother emerge from the garage to the flashing lights of cops that have showed up. The scene fades out before anything really happens, but shouldn't the cops be converging on Shia, especially since the officer they sent to arrest HIM is no longer responding?
#38: When Shia gets his anklet taken off, he walks outside to find the hot girl standing right past the edge of what used to be his limits. So...she was just standing right there waiting on him? For how long?
It could have been cool if he had surprised her at her house, perhaps at her pool which had been a recurring location while he spied on her.
That's 38 negative points for Disturbia. But I liked the cast and the performances. So 36 negative points. (But actually there were other stupid things I didn't bother to mention, so it's more like 50.)
Then the film got some good reviews. It's still only a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, but that's more than it deserves. I couldn't help but dwell on all of the stupid things that I noticed: either lacks of logic or elements that were totally unnecessary.
To name a "few":
THERE BE SPOILERS!
#1: The film opens with Shia's father being killed in a car accident. It's actually done really well to start with. An erratic SUV pulls ahead of them on a two lane road. They're following for a bit when it suddenly swerves out of the way, revealing a stalled car right in front of us.
Shia hits it, and his car goes flying, flipping upside-down. The problem comes when both father and son seem alright only to have another truck plow into the passenger side, killing the dad.
The truck showed no signs of even hitting its brakes. There's no reason this truck wouldn't have been able to see the wreck in time to at least slow down. Even if the stalled car had been around a blind curve (it wasn't), Shia's car flew a few hundred feet past it.
Also, the people standing on the side of the road next to their stalled car never make an appearance, apparently unconcerned with either checking on the crash victims or stopping the speeding truck.
#2: Killing the father was totally unnecessary in the first place. They wanted to make us feel bad for Shia and sympathize with his bad behavior. Do they really think I'm not going to be on the side of a guy who's trying to catch a killer and no one believes him? Just give him a dead-beat dad if you're that worried about it.
#3: A year later, Shia is acting up in Spanish class. That is, he's asleep, and when he's asked to answer a question, it's clear he knows hardly any Spanish. But it's supposed to be the week before summer. If he didn't know more Spanish than this, he wouldn't have made it this far in the class.
#4: The teacher tries to be understanding with Shia and mentions something about his father, causing him to punch the guy. This, along with three priors that remain unexplained, results in Shia being placed under house arrest for three months.
The only reason they set it during the summer was so he wouldn't have to miss school while he's under house arrest.
So you're telling me that a movie that opens with killing off the father, has a kid punch out his teacher, and features a serial killer living next door decides to play it safe by not making the kid miss school?
#5: Shia is fitted with an anklet that will alert police if he strays beyond a certain distance from the house. He meets the cop that's assigned to him, who just happens to be the cousin of the teacher he punched.
While it's mildly addressed later, wouldn't this be a HUGE conflict of interests? Also, he is apparently the only cop that ever responds to the anklet going off (either with other cops or alone). He must be hanging out around the place just waiting for Shia to screw up.
#6: Shia tries to kill some time by playing XBOX online, but he's suddenly thrown off because his account is no longer active. (His mother canceled it.) He'd still have no trouble playing a game the normal way, but he abandons all hope and moves on to other things.
#7: His mother returns home to find him lazily watching TV in his room. When he accuses her of being dramatic, it's clear she's going to do something drastic. Thankfully they spared me by not having her smash the TV. Instead, she cuts the power cord.
Considering she's canceled his XBOX Live and iTunes subscription in order to pay the incarceration fee, you'd think she'd consider selling his TV for some cash.
Also, we've already seen him watching an even bigger TV in the living room, so it doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
#8: Shia answers his doorbell to find a flaming bag of poop that he stomps out with his sock-covered feet. A guy that's gotten in trouble with the law four times doesn't know this old trick?
#9: While out in his yard, he hides when he sees the new hot next-door neighbor (Ashley) driving down the street and into her driveway. But she already saw him get handcuffed on his front lawn when his anklet brought the police. How could any interaction with her possibly embarrass him further?
#10: Shia is awoken to his neighbor (the killer) coming home late at night, driving a shiny blue rare classic car with a dented left fender, which exactly matches the description mentioned on TV earlier that a kidnapper may have been driving.
But Shia doesn't call the police or even mention any of this to his mother. It would be perfectly reasonable to do so. In fact, having the police investigate at this point and find nothing would increase the stakes by making him reluctant to contact them again.
#11: Shia lets his Asian friend (Ronnie) in on his hunch, and they do some research. Turns out police suspect the recent disappearances are related to a similar thing that happened in Texas a few years prior, where, after the killer moved out, dead bodies were found hidden in the house.
They didn't track him down because he used a fake name. So apparently he left no fingerprints, no neighbors could describe him, and none of the local businesses that he frequented had video surveillance footage. Because based on how the killer lives in this new neighborhood, the police would have no trouble tracking him down once he moved away.
#12: Shia, Ronnie, and Ashley stake out the killer but find no evidence of foul play, other than his taste in redheaded club-going women.
Later that night while alone, Shia notices the woman running around the killer's house in a panic, trying to get out. He tries to film it, when suddenly his camcorder flashes.
Yes, many camcorders have flashes, but I know from experience that they are a pain to activate. Having one go off by accident is ridiculous.
#13: Shia never shows this footage of a woman in distress to anyone because moments later, after hiding for a bit, he sees her getting into her car and leaving. But as we later find out, she didn't leave. She's dead. So why doesn't she show up as a missing person? Because then Shia would have been able to show that footage to someone and get the killer arrested, that's why.
#14: Ashley throws a party, which Shia obviously can't attend. He accuses her of trying to conform. That is, not punch teachers in the face, I guess.
#15: Shia tries to ruin her party by playing loud annoying music. She storms over and threatens to throw his iPod off the balcony. When he's forced to admit that he's been spying on her, he mentions a number of cute things he's witnessed, including how she reads real books and not magazines.
This is coming from a guy who's played videogames, spied on people, and built a tower of Twinkies instead of cracking open one of the hundreds of books in his dead father's library. Why the hell would he be impressed with someone reading?
#16: Later that night while at Shia's place, Ashley spots the killer dragging a bloody bag into his garage. The next day, they make Ronnie sneak into the killer's car while he's gone. He's at a hardware store, where Ashley is spying on him to make sure he's still away from home.
She insists on sending pictures through her phone to prove that the killer is still in the store. What's the freaking point? You can just tell him that.
Plus, why even spy on the guy? She could acknowledge that she sees him and act like she's having a normal phone conversation. Ask his opinion on the shovels he's looking at. Anything to make sure he doesn't leave her sight. Instead, she hides from him and then loses track of him.
#17: That is, until he pops up in front of her car in the parking lot. And leans in through the open(?) passenger window, lets himself in, locks the door, and says creepy vaguely threatening things implying that they should stay out of his business, while occasionally touching her in inappropriate ways.
She could have easily mentioned this incident to anyone of authority which might possibly have led to an investigation of this guy. He could have told her to stop spying on him without seeming like he was about to rape her.
#18: Shia gets the blueprints to the killer's house so easily, I have to assume he Googled "blueprint to the killer's house." And that he has the capability of printing them on blueprint paper straight from his computer at home.
#19: He then rigs a home security system so that Ronnie can sneak in with a video camera that will transit its image to his computer screen. When did he suddenly become MacGuyver? And where did he get the money for this thing?
#20: Shia is supposed to keep an eye out while Ronnie sneaks into the garage and checks the bloody bag, but instead he insists on watching the live feed, putting his friend in intense peril.
#21: When Ronnie goes missing, Shia runs over to save him, which of course causes the police to show up. He tells them Ronnie is in the house and that the killer has a bag with a body in it. (Ronnie confirmed the bag had blood and hair in it.) They pull it out, but it contains a deer carcass.
Still..wtf? No one questions why the hell the killer is keeping a rotting deer carcass? And WHY does he have it? Did he know Shia would call the police over and needed a cover? Is it always in his garage to mask the smell of the other dead bodies?
#22: Shia's mom wants to go talk to the killer to hopefully get him not to press charges. Shia obviously doesn't want her to because he thinks the guy is a killer, but he gives in to her demands pretty easily considering his friend is MISSING and perhaps DEAD.
#23: Ronnie plays a practical joke by sending Shia a text that says to check his TV which shows Ronnie in a closet which turns out to be Shia's closet and when Shia opens it he yells and scares him. Not only is this overly elaborate but also it's incredibly inappropriate.
#24: Shia zooms in on an image from footage taken inside the house to reveal a body wrapped in plastic hidden behind an air vent. But he zooms in impossibly far and makes the image clearer than it originally was.
#25: Around the same time that Shia discovers this, the killer slams his mother's face against a wall, then appears seconds later in Shia's house to hit Ronnie across the face with a bat. But later Shia finds his mom tied up down in a weird basement/well thing which would have taken about ten minutes to accomplish.
#26: The killer attacks Shia, who tries to unplug the monitor for his anklet so the police will show up. But each time the killer gets closer, he lets go of it instead of just ripping it from the wall.
#27: He runs outside, trying to go beyond the radius and set off the anklet. The killer grabs him, struggling to keep him back until he finally knocks Shia out. This entire time, Shia doesn't scream in an attempt to alert the neighbors.
#28: The killer ties up Shia and explains that he's going to kill his mother and Ronnie and then Shia himself, making it look like a murder-suicide. Good plan, I guess, but not sure how he was going to accomplish that if he has bashed in Shia's brain with a baseball bat as he was trying to do earlier.
#29: In fact, why is the killer even bothering to kill them in the first place? He doesn't know that Shia has any concrete evidence. And even if he feels that he's been compromised, it's not like he can kill them and just stay in his place without being investigated. He'd have to leave town anyway, so why chance getting caught while attempting to kill three people?
#30: Ashley shows up and saves Shia for the time being. They barricade themselves in his room. The phone doesn't work. But Shia never attempts to sabotage his anklet, which as we were told point blank earlier in the film, would send the police his way.
#31: When the killer starts to bust down the door, they jump from his room to her swimming pool, and he goes after his mom. But Ashley doesn't bother calling the police and explaining everything that's just happened. Just because the police are on their way doesn't mean they shouldn't know what the hell is going on.
#32: The dispatcher calls the cousin cop to report the anklet violation even though his shift is over. He says he'll take it but waits to finish his meal first.
I don't buy this for a minute. This cop has loved busting Shia's balls, and now he wants to sit around and wait? Totally unrealistic. This was the time they were going to haul Shia off to jail. The guy should be running red lights to get there.
#33: While looking for his mom, Shia crawls into vents and rarely checks behind himself even though he knows the killer wasn't incapacitated in any way and could appear behind him at any moment.
#34: During his search, Shia finds a redheaded wig and the valuables that belonged to the club girl. So this can only mean that she's dead and the killer PUT ON A WIG before driving her car away.
Are you freaking kidding me? If Shia (or anyone else) had gotten more than a glance at him, it would have looked ridiculous. David Morse (who plays the killer) is 6 feet, 4 inches tall! He's supposed to pass for a woman?!
#35: Shia hears his mom's muffled murmuring from what turns out to be hundreds of feet away but can't hear the cop calling out to ask if anyone is home. Oh, but the cop can hear when Shia slides open a door.
#36: The killer breaks the cop's neck. Nothing wrong with this, technically, but I felt bad for him.
#37: After killing the killer, Shia and the mother emerge from the garage to the flashing lights of cops that have showed up. The scene fades out before anything really happens, but shouldn't the cops be converging on Shia, especially since the officer they sent to arrest HIM is no longer responding?
#38: When Shia gets his anklet taken off, he walks outside to find the hot girl standing right past the edge of what used to be his limits. So...she was just standing right there waiting on him? For how long?
It could have been cool if he had surprised her at her house, perhaps at her pool which had been a recurring location while he spied on her.
That's 38 negative points for Disturbia. But I liked the cast and the performances. So 36 negative points. (But actually there were other stupid things I didn't bother to mention, so it's more like 50.)
18 comments:
You are a freakin' retard. Go kill yourself and do this world a favor. This list sucks.
My first flame. I appreciate it.
#1: As for the crash itself...the movie never showed how fast any of the cars were going. Depending on the speed, it could take up to 10 seconds to brake enough to avoid a collision. Not only that, but you never actually saw the truck driver's face. It's possible that he/she wasn't paying attention.
The crash also occured too quickly to know if the owners of the stalled car came to help. It's also possible that they were being smart and calling for help, rather than walk up to a crashed car that may have a possibility of exploding.
#2: Killing the father WAS necessary. Because Shia's character was driving the car, he believed his father's death to be his fault, and therefore had guilt issues. Also, if his father never died, the spanish teacher would have never made a comment about him. Shia would never have punched his teacher, never been put under house arrest, and therefore the movie would be nonexistent.
#3: I took four years of Spanish. Two in middle school, and two in high school. I made straight A's all four years, and I probably couldn't hold a conversation with a spanish speaker. There were kids in my class who passed just by guessing on tests, and some kids who couldn't manage to form a sentence.
#4: Actually, the film was probaby set during the summer for very different reasons. Most people with kids tend to move during the summer, hence the arrival of blonde girlfriend. Also, Ronnie seems to be constantly over at Shia's house, and he wouldn't be a major part of the storyline if he was at school.
#5: In a small town, there aren't that many cops to choose from, so the police force probably isn't as worried about conflict of interest as they should be. It was stated (multiple times) in the movie that the cop specifically requested to be the first notified of anything concerning the kid, so that's why he was always there.
#6: He's a teenage boy. He probably only played XBox because he liked the competition, and decided there were better things to do than play video games alone.
#7: His mother was just upset. His room was a mess, he wasn't helping her with housework, and he did nothing all day but sit on his ass and watch tv. When she walked in to see him watching trashy television, she was obviously angry at him, and her cutting the cord was just a moment of passion. I know MY mother has done things like this (she once threw my ipod out a window because she said the lyrics were dirty) when she was pissed off about something, so it's not that strange.
#8: Depends on what he's gotten in trouble with the law about. If it was violence, there's no reason he would know this trick. Seeing as he never had problems with the police before his father died, it's not like he had years and years to research criminal hobbies.
#9: Once again, he's a teenage boy. He doesn't want his hot blonde neighbor to see him having problems getting his own mail.
#10: By this point, he hates the police. He's already stuck at home and had a police officer treat him unfairly, so he doesn't expect to be believed.
#11: Have you ever lived in Texas? The weather is awful. Nobody ever trecks outside due to extreme hot or cold. I live in Dallas, and I know very few of my neighbors, as we are rarely outside at the same time. Besides, it was emphasied that Turner was hardly special in any way. He was thought to be just a regular guy with a lawn-mowing fetish. It's not like people would have taken special notice of him. As for finger prints...have you ever been fingerprinted? Only criminals are fingerprinted, so Turner would never have had fingerprints on record (at least, none that were known to be his).
#12: That all depends on the camcorder. Mine is also ridiculously difficult to set off, but my sister has one that is simply a lever you slide to the left. His hands were shaking, so if his was a button or lever, it would be relatively easy to set off.
#13: There are multiple reasons why she would never show up as a missing person. It's possible that she had no family living nearby, and the events of the movie from that time to the end probably only took a few days, so there wouldn't be time for a landlord or neighbor to report her missing.
#14: Shia's character doesn't seem like a conforming type. It doesn't seem as if he had any friends but Ronnie, and nobody from his spanish class stuck up for him. He probably never got along with the prep-jock-cheerleader crowd that went to Ashley's party.
#15: People are often attracted to people that are different. Maybe he admired the reading part of Ashley because it was different from his personality and he thought it was interesting. There are a lot of people who like people that are completely opposite from themselves.
#16: Would you want to strike up a conversation with someone you believe to be a serial killer? Because I sure as hell wouldn't. And she probably sent pictures to feel as if would be a more 'spy-y' thing to do. I for one think it would be kinda fun to spy on someone, and would make the most of it. If that means taking pictures, then so be it.
#17: She's a teenage girl. She probably didn't even think about reporting sexual harrassment to the cops, because she was too scared by the realization the the killer knew she was helping to spy on him. In moments of terror, people often don't think straight.
#18: Although the blueprint thing is odd, it's suburbia. There's probably only 4-5 different models of houses in the entire neighborhood, and often blueprints of houses can be found on the website of the housing division. It also doesn't have to be blueprint paper, that may have been how it printed.
#19: We're living in a technology age. Teenagers know way more about technology than they ever have before, and it's not that hard to make a camera-computer connection. You can do it through bluetooth, or though the computer program that comes with some cameras.
#20: He's not the smartest kid in the world (as shown in his spanish class), so he probably assumed that watching the live feed for a few moments wouldn't be dangerous.
#21: Did you watch that part of the movie? Turner told the police the deer ran in front of his car, and he didn't want to leave it in the middle of the road.
#22: She's his mom. When you're a teenager already in extreme trouble with the law, you don't piss your mom of more.
#23: TEENAGE BOY. Of course Ronnie didn't realize it was inappropriate. He just thought it would be funny. And it wasn't elaborate. He had his laptop hooked up to his tv (which is incredibly easy to do), so the feed that was sent to his laptop showed up on his television.
#24: this one I agree with, but it's a movie. It's doesn't have to be accurate.
#25: He didn't appear seconds later. Movie time is faster than real time. They often cut out a few minutes of meaningless crap that doesn't play an important part to the plot.
#26: He's nervous! There's a killer chasing after him, and he's scared for his life. He doesn't have time to think of what he should do.
#27: See above.
#28: It's possible that he had just thought of the plan. Or he might have made changes to it.
#29: He's a psychopath. He doesn't seem to care about the consequences of murder. He knows that Shia and his friends suspect him and know way more than they should, and that it would be easier to murder them.
#30: They're stuck in his room. He doesn't really have access to anything that could destroy his anklet. Like they said early, it's tamperproof AND waterproof.
#31: How do you know she didn't call the police? They did show up at the end, unless I'm remembering wrong.
#32: By this point, he doesn't care. He just assumes the kid ran off his lawn again, and knows he'll be able to arrest him whenever.
#33: He's just occupied with finding his mom. That was his goal, to make sure she was ok, and he was trying to find her as quickly as possible.
#34: Keep in mind they were watching from an upstairs window, and it would be difficult to determine height. He also got into the car rather quickly, with his back turned, so it would be difficult to get a great look at him, seeing as it was dark outside.
#35: It's all the layout of the house. Maybe their were too many walls between the cop and Shia, or maybe Shia was making too much noise himself to hear the cop. Then it's possible that as Shia moved throughout the house, he got within hearing range so that the cop could here the door open.
#36: Ok.
#37: Not if they're just driving up. They may not have gotten out of the cars yet.
#38: She probably knew he was getting it taken off, and saw the anklet-lady leave, so she walked over there to wait for him.
999,999,999,999 negative points to you. Was it too hard to just say you disliked the movie? You pretty much just wrote out the entire movie scene for scene while criticizing it. This wasn't the best movie of the year, but it was better than your so called critique.
Hi Voice of Reason:
Since you took the time to respond to each of my points, I feel that it's only fair to respond (however briefly) to each of them.
#1: Perhaps the stalled car people were calling for help, but my bigger issue is that the truck shows no sign of braking whatsoever. I agree it might not have been able to stop, but it didn't seem to try.
#2: The death of the father made sense as things played out, so I don't think it's a mistake or anything. But the same thing could have been accomplished with a dead-beat Dad.
Really my slight issue is that I think the writer did it simply so we'd side with Shia, as if we wouldn't in any other circumstance.
#3: Flunking a test or oral exam I'd believe, but it was if he flat-out couldn't say anything in Spanish.
#4: People moving during the summer is a valid point. And yeah, I realize it allowed Ronnie to be over more, but that could have happened on the weekends. Again, it plays out just fine, but I feel that the write thought keeping him out of school would make us dislike him or something.
#5: I really don't have much more to say except that I think they'd assign someone, ANYONE, else without a personal connection to the case.
#6: I played hours of videogames as a teenager before the online gaming boom, but my bigger concern is they made it seem as if the system was now inoperable.
#7: I am actually glad they showed some restraint, and I'm fine with her doing what she did. But no mention was made of the other (bigger) TV in the living room.
#8: Honestly, I don't believe that any teenager in the United States doesn't know about this trick.
#9: Actually, I'm pretty sure he staged trying to get his mail so she would help him and he could talk to her.
#10: Just seems a little strange since it's such a small town that he doesn't feel the need to tell it to anyone that could do anything about it.
#11: I haven't lived in Texas, but I've lived in Alabama. I didn't really know my neighbors either. But if someone had moved out and dead bodies were discovered in the house, there would surely have been a thorough investigation. There would be security footage from SOMEWHERE that he had visited. Granted, that doesn't mean they would have been able to track him down, but there would have been a picture associated with him.
And actually, I have been fingerprinted, in grade school when a policeman dad visited the school for a demonstration. But yeah, good point that the fingerprints probably wouldn't have led them to anyone.
#12: In this case, I can't immediately think of another way that would have drawn the neighbor's attention. But since I was including all of the things I found annoying, I mentioned it.
#13: I suppose that's true. It's weird to me that there was a discrepancy with the first girl he "kidnapped" being reportedly immediately and then the second girl that he lured into his place. Normally a killer like that follows a specific pattern.
#14: I could see him being upset, but the way he expressed it was very "higher than thou."
#15: Sure, but he talked A LOT about the reading for someone that hadn't cracked a book at all.
#16: Maybe she wouldn't want to talk to the guy, but they made a fairly straight forward activity (following the guy) unnecessarily difficult, which resulted in her losing track of him.
#17: My problem isn't that she didn't report it. I believe that she wouldn't. My problem is that he gave her a chance to. He could have told her to stay away from him without seeing like a pervert.
#18: Maybe he could find the blueprint online, but that was definitely blue blueprint paper.
#19: I'm more concerned with how he afforded the thing.
#20: Book smarts and common sense are two different things, and he didn't seem to have either.
#21: Sure, he gave an explanation, but wouldn't that seem incredibly bizarre to you? No one even questions him about it being weird.
#22: Yes, it's his mom, which is why you don't let her go over to the house of someone that you are pretty sure just killed your best friend.
#23: I suppose I can give this a pass, but I found it annoying as it was just there to create false tension.
#24: Funny enough, this is actually one that I had the least problem with.
#25: He got over shortly after Shia discovered the body on the screen because he hadn't gone downstairs to get Ronnie yet. If nothing else, he got over much more quickly than possible considering he had to haul her downstairs and tie her up.
#26 & #27: I'll grant the first one on nerves, but if you're nervous and panicked, you would surely be screaming for help.
#28: Okay, so maybe he was improvising. But that doesn't make him a great villain.
#29: He's a serial killer who has followed a set pattern. It's incredibly risky to bother killing these people when he'd have to leave anyway.
#30: They told him that if he ATTEMPTED to dismantle the anklet it would bring the police. All he's been thinking about is bringing the police via his anklet, so he should have thought of dismantling it.
#31: If she had called them, the cop that showed up by himself would have been alerted and known to be careful.
#32: I'm still gonna have to disagree with this because this character should have been chomping at the bit to go arrest this kid.
#33: Actually he seemed to be ambling along, if you ask me.
#34: Sure it's possible that Shia wouldn't have realized it. But the fact that he had the wig to begin with means he was planning to do it all along, not just because Shia saw him. Which is just strange. Plus, what if another neighbor had seen him?
#35: Again, it's possible, but the way it played out made it seem unlikely.
#36: I really only mentioned it because I thought they could have just knocked him out. It obviously makes sense that the killer would kill him, but I felt bad for him.
#37: That's true. They might have just been driving up. But I didn't see headlights.
#38: I thought it would have been better structure to have him surprise her at the pool, since he spied on her there twice.
Thanks for commenting.
Anonymous: First off, I didn't just dislike the movie. I hated it. And since it had gotten pretty good reviews, I wasn't expecting to hate it, which kind of made me hate it more.
Secondly, what would be the point of just saying I disliked it? That wouldn't make for a very interesting post. I wanted to list specific examples as to why I hated it.
...but it didnt turn out to be an interesting post anyway. so...FAIL.
I love the movie but I also agree with alot of what you said or can see how it would be annoying. I found this post very entertaining and loved it. No hate from me!
Thanks, DJ. I'm sure there's a movie I love that someone could do the same thing for. I just wanted to be entertaining, so I'm glad you liked it.
Hey Jonathan K, I really liked Disturbia, so I don't know if me and you are on the same page, but I found your post interesting and in depth, but to be honest, you should just watch a movie for entertainment, no for every clique, no onee, not even a film, is perfect.
BTW, you better be my age, which is 15 or a teen to be precise , because if you over 19, then I'll have to laugh at how some adults waste their time, no offense.
jonothon k has a bit too much time on his hands i think.
and voice of reason wrecked you hardcore in his responses.
jonothon k, if you think you could do a better job, please do, try to make a movie as good as disturbia.
you shoukd infact change your name to steven spilberg
NAAAAAAAWT !
hey man i agree with everything this is quite honestly the worst movie i have ever seen in theatres (yes i have seen worse at home) i hated the characters and wanted them to die and of course the whole time i was just pissed at how much it ripped of rear window and at the end the shining in the theatre i couldnt help but yell out heeeeeres johnny when he broke the door and then of course killing the police as soon as he comes. im gald someone else out there hates it as much as i do i have nearly lost friends over how much i hate this movie that they somehow enjoyed. keep up the good work
just something on the zoomed in camera, it is obvious that the quality changes, however, when I was watching this with a friend, he immediatly said "whats that?" about the person in the wall. although I did not notice it, apparently it is obvious to some.
a side note, the police should have already been on their way when Shia was trying to pull the plug out of the wall. it was made clear that if the main console was unplugged the ploice would come.
finally, why did you use Shia's real name while ripping the movie, but Ronnie's movie name? just curious...
Its nice to see you liked the movie. Because anyone who has at least a brain of a rat would not write such blog about a movie they hate. they would try to move on with their lives, instead of running in circles screaming "i hated this movie and i want you to hate it, because my opinion is the most important in the world"
now go do world a favor, unplug your internet.
Please...everyone who liked this movie go rent "Rear Window". It's a if you like Disturbia (or hate it actually) you will LOVE Rear Window. It's well made, freaky and with Grace Kelly (super-hot).
p.s.
thanks for the post. this movie made me so mad cause it was just so awful.
to take apart just one of your arguments, i think you'll find for most people don't play video games alone after they complete them.the next step is to play with other pros otherwise its just plain boring playing the same thing over and over.....obviously thats what you do with video games. must be a rollercoaster ride for you eh?
The whole point of the Dad dying was so Kale would get angry and hit a teacher and then be put under house arrest. After all they had make a little bit different in some way to Rear Window.
Did it ever occur to you maybe they took pity on him because the reason he's struggling is because he blames himself for his dads death. Or maybe he has been good up till that point but because its been coming up to the one year aniversary hes started to struggle. Or that he just hadn't done that piece of work.
The teacher is not trying to be sympathetic, hes being an idiot and says to him "what would your father think" which obviously angers Kale because one thing he didn't want to do is disapoint the father he was very close to and the father that died and he blames himself for that, leading to him getting angry and punching the teacher. I'd do the same thing.
The cop that is the teachers cousin...yes it is odd that he just so happens to be the teachers cousin but come on, weirder things happen in films. AND the reason why he also responds, if you watch the film later on is that the person on the end of the radio says do you still want fisrt dibs on this kid and he says yes. Thats why!
Ever played on Xbox live? I haven't, but I hear its good fun and obv thats why he gives up hope. FOr all we no hes already completed that game without being on Live and is now trying to by playing with other people on line and he doesn't want to play without playing online, because its more fun!
Its big deal to him because one he can't watch whatever he wants in his own room-porn for example-and its like shes taking away everything he has for his own entertainment.
OMG how was he supposed to no that he was going to open the door to that bag of flaiming ****? He can't see through the ******* door!
He hid from Ashleigh so she didn't see that he was spying on her!! THats so obvoious!
Because he's just woken up, he was most likely a bit disorientated and never thought about phoning the police. Then later on when he clicks on its to late.
I couldn't name the majorty of my neighbours and if you remmeber correctly he says he likes his privacy and you no its pretty easy to get rid of finger prints especailly if you take all the furniature when you move.
My camera has a button on it and when you press it takes a photo. This is a professional DV video camera.
Maybe no one realised she was missing. I don't always assume my sisters missing when no ones heard from her in a few days. This takes place across what...2 3 days.
This list is ridiculous. Conform as in meaing turning into those **** faced idiots, not becoming guilty because you think you caused the death of your father.
Maybe he's impressed because instead of being an average bimbo, she reads books in her spare time. And also that shes different from the average girl of her age.
If I were in there posistion I think I'd want photos so I new it was defiantly him. And maybe she doesn't want to be in any contact with him or maybe because if that happened there wouldn't be much of a film.
If he acted like he wasn't going to rape her, the threat wouldn't have been more scary, making him seem less intimidating. He wants to appear initimidating to them. Why? Hmm...because he's a KILLER!
Maybe he already had the equipment or even better do you rememeber when Ronnie brought all that stuff from his Uncles hosue?!
The killer says to the police that he hit the deer the other night and was going to burry it as soon as he got a chance. Maybe the dead girl was indeed never in the bag and he did indeed hit the deer.
Obviously his mother isn't going to listen to him whihc is why she goes over there. I think all this stuff is pretty obvious.
For it to be innapropriate was the point.
First off its a film, thing like that happen in film, and I know from experience that you can make footage clear when you zoom in.
Again its a film, we actaully never no how much time has lapsed since him hitting his bothers head off the wall to then. But again if this hadn't happened there wouldn't have been much of a film.
Maybe he couldn't get a grip of it to pull it out of the wall. ANd besides when they jump into the pool it was so much better and he never would have discovered half as much stuff as he did.
If you here a scream outside do you look at the window to see whats going on? I don't no anyone who does. But I'm pretty sure none of them neighbours would. Espeically considering hes 'the boy who cried wolf'
He didn't bash his head in, obv he would be dead if he did. If I tried to kill someone I'm sure that they would put up a fight and I end up a bit beaten about.
There is no problem with the plan to kill those three. He does no he has evidence other then all the cameras and stuff that were set up in the room, and that he's seen him spying on him.
He knows he wont be able to break the anklet off. Its not like its fastened on with a necklace fastening.
Maybe she was to panicked. Knowing that his anklet will have alereted them maybe she was to conceted in getting herself to safety. I would be.
He fininshs his meal because Kale is the boy who cries wolf its already happened twice!!!!!!
Ireally wouldn't be thinking of the killer if it was my mam in there.
It was dark and when I saw it the first time I really did think it was her leaving the house until we see her get killed but I think its meant to look to the audience that it isn't her anyway.
If I had heard someone calling to me I wouldn't have gone back. For I know it could be the killer!
The scene fades! Just for one minute think that maybe just maybe the cops only showed up moments before they emerge from the house right and then the scene fades so we don't see what happens. Or maybe Ashleigh did phone thme and tell what was going on.
Yeah she might have been waiting or she might have been coming across that way when he cameout of the house. THat part makes my heart melt.
I think I've just proved that first off that list is a load of rubbish and second off people really need to pay attention to films!
Yawn. Most of these points are quite valid. Spooky movie, endless cliches, but worth watching.
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