Teen thriller ‘Disturbia’ doesn’t dumb it down

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In theaters

DISTURBIA, directed by D.J. Caruso, written by Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth, 104 minutes, rated PG-13.

“Disturbia” asks what a teenage boy is to do when he’s been placed under house arrest for assaulting a teacher. The answer? Take a cue from Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal thriller “Rear Window” and start spying on the neighbors.

If nothing else, he’ll at least get an education in psychology.

The film, which D.J. Caruso based on a screenplay by Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth, takes a familiar premise and makes it its own. The result is an impressive, surprisingly tense movie for the high-tech generation that doesn’t sell out its story in favor of cheap thrills.

There are genuine jolts here, with Caruso especially adroit at building suspense without losing his sense of humor. Late in the game, logic becomes strained and any prior subtleness is lost, but the fine acting by the very good cast goes a long way in keeping the film moving at a sharp clip.

The film stars Shia LaBeouf as Kale Brecht, a likable California teen traumatized after surviving the same car accident that killed his father. Now, after an altercation with his Spanish teacher, Kale is spared jail time when his mother (Carrie-Anne Moss) asks the judge to soften the sentence. The judge agrees and Kale is ordered to wear a monitoring device on his ankle, which, for the next three months, will keep him rooted to within 100 feet of his suburban home.

It’s a good deal, but Kale, who becomes bored when his mother takes away his video games, is eventually drawn to the windows that overlook the community beyond. What he finds there is a world teeming with unexpected interest.

For instance, just below him in one of the houses is his new neighbor Ashley (Sarah Roemer), who looks fetching in a bikini, and with whom Kale and his friend, Ronnie (Aaron Yoo), strike up a friendship that becomes steeped in voyeurism. With their binoculars, cell phones and video cameras, these three see plenty from Kale’s perch, none of which is more important than Mr. Turner (David Morse) himself, who drives a vintage Mustang, enjoys gardening to the point of obsession, and who – upon closer examination – might just be a serial killer.

It’s this closer examination that whips the film into a froth, particularly when Mr. Turner is seen dragging large, mysteriously cumbersome bags into his garage. With these three gradually convinced that Turner is indeed responsible for the murders of several women, the game is on, with Turner himself, in another broad nod at “Rear Window,” becoming aware of their surveillance, which heightens the suspense, as does his growing relationship with Kale’s mom.

Until its overwrought ending, which bends backward into overkill, much of what ensues is slick and satisfying, a movie geared toward teens that for once doesn’t dumb down its story for them.

Grade: B

On DVD and Blu-ray disc

THE QUEEN, directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, 107 minutes, rated PG-13.

On the surface, the British monarchy seems well-equipped to handle most situations. One would imagine that having all that robust history to use as a reference guide to sort through the unsortable must be helpful, as would the presumed sturdiness that comes from good breeding, extreme wealth, education and power.

In Stephen Frears’ speculative movie “The Queen,” however, what the royals appear to lack is any sense of real connection to modern-day life. They’re out of touch.

The trouble, it seems, stems from the weight attached to that aforementioned history, wealth and power, with the perils of all that good breeding leaving the royal family in an occasional mess. After all, how do you react to real life when the only life you’ve ever known has been an illusion banked behind stone fortresses?

For the royals, real life smashed through those fortresses when Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in the streets of Paris in 1997. Crushed in a Mercedes with her lover, Dodi al-Fayed, at her side, she died a grisly death that sent the world into a kind of cataclysmic mourning. It was an event that left Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren in a terrific, Academy Award-winning performance) in an unfortunate situation – suddenly, her blue blood was all over her hands.

Protocol suggested the family grieve in private, which Elizabeth was more than happy to do given her tumultuous relationship with Diana. Still, given Diana’s enormous popularity, was privacy possible when her subjects, the media and the world demanded to know if this most stoic of queens had a heart?

Initially, the idea that she would bow to such pressure was repellent to Elizabeth, though as the days ticked by and the flowers piled higher in front of Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Castle, Elizabeth reluctantly came to listen to the advice of the newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen). She would indeed have to cave to pressure and make a public statement about Diana’s death.

Since going into the movie we know this, Frears and screenwriter Peter Morgan had the tricky job of getting us into the backrooms and bedrooms via the undercurrent of fiction. What they mount is a plausible story (at least until the mawkish ending) that weaves between drama and comedy as the Windsors and the Blairs find their footing within the fallout of one woman’s tragedy and a country in change.

Grade: A-

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays and Fridays in Lifestyle, weekends in Television as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

Akeelah and the Bee – B+

The Ant Bully – B+

Babel – A-

The Black Dahlia – C-

Blood Diamond – C+

Bobby – C-

Borat – B+

Cars – C

Casino Royale – A

Charlotte’s Web – B+

Children of Men – A

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – A

Clerks II – B+

Crank – B+

The Da Vinci Code – C+

The Departed – A

The Descent – B+

The Devil Wears Prada – B+

Employee of the Month – C

Eragon – C

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind HD DVD

Everyone’s Hero – C+

Failure to Launch HD DVD and Blu-ray – C-

Fast Food Nation – B-

Feast HD DVD – C+

Flushed Away – B+

Flyboys – C-

Freedomland – C-

Friends with Money – B

The Good Shepherd – B-

The Gridiron Gang – C+

Half Nelson – A-

Happy Feet – A-

A History of Violence – A

The Holiday – C+

Hollywoodland – C

The Illusionist – B+

Infamous – B+

Inside Man – B+

Invincible – B

Ironside: Season One – B+

Jackass Number Two – B

Kinky Boots – B+

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – B+

Larry King: The Greatest Interviews – B+

Last Holiday – B

The Last King of Scotland – B+

The Libertine – D

Little Miss Sunshine – B+

Lucky Number Slevin – B

The Marine – C+

Match Point – A

Miami Vice – C

Monster House – B+

Munich – A-

My Super Ex-Girlfriend – A-

North Country – C

Notes on a Scandal – B+

The Omen – B-

Open Season – B

Over the Hedge – B

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – B-

Poseidon – B

A Prairie Home Companion – C

The Prestige – B+

The Pursuit of Happyness – B-

The Queen DVD and Blu-ray – A-

Rocky Balboa – B+

Running with Scissors – C+

A Scanner Darkly DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray – B+

Shakespeare Behind Bars – A-

Sherrybaby – B+

Shut Up & Sing – A-

Slither – B

Snakes on a Plane: A-

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby – B

This Film is Not Yet Rated – B-

United 93 – A

Volver – A

The Wicker Man – BOMB

World Trade Center – A