Disturbia

Alfred Hitchcock meets Steven Spielberg. In Dreamworks8217; MTV-ised adaptation of the Hitchcockian classic Rear Window, there is nothing as simple as a photographer with a broken leg confined to his room who starts spying on his neighbours to kill time, and who one day starts believing one of them may have murdered his wife.

Instead, Disturbia concerns a 17-year-old under house arrest for showing a violent streak since his father had a horrific accident shown in bone-crunching detail; who has a gadget attached to his ankle by the police that won8217;t let him go beyond 100 yards or so of his house perimeter; and who has every other gadget that a 17-year-old google-dreams about in his closet. When Kale Brecht LaBeouf does start spying, it is mainly to look at a girl in a bikini. And when the suspect neighbour Morse does turn up, he is not a frustrated husband tired of his wife8217;s nagging but might be a methodical and cold-blooded serial killer.

Instead of mounting suspense in Rear Window, as the audience felt one with James Stewart 8212; watching events unfold without being able to move from its seats 8212; Disturbia only keeps mounting on the gadgets. You almost expect a Transformer LaBeouf8217;s last film to barge in through the door. That doesn8217;t, but practically everything else seems to be at the disposal of Kale, whose mother Moss is apparently working day and night to make ends meet. Xbox, iTunes, handycam, tripod camera, home security devices, you name it.

Even the token woman presence Roemer as Ashley, who sashays for a walk, most of the times in a bikini is an insult to the character of Grace Kelley from the original. Ashley does provide a different perspective to Kale8217;s spying but that is only till she is viewed from a distance.

The worst part of Disturbia, however, is that there is just no suspense about the killer. He issues veiled warnings, has women coming into his house at strange hours and has that time-old giveaway of disposing of suspiciously large bags of garbage in the middle of the night. And to top it all, the movie ends in a surprisingly over-the-top, Hollywood-finish manner 8212;out of step with even Disturbia.

At the end of the day, all that Hitchcock required was a rear window, and a story about voyeurism. When James Stewart spies out that window, he sees as much the world outside as gets a perspective on his life within.

When we look at Disturbia, all we see are spoilt teenagers with just too much time and money at their disposal.