Disturbia and Fracture thrill

Kathmandu:

The late great Alfred Hitchcock did a movie called Rear Window for which he should have been awarded an Oscar. Disturbia, which is about a disturbance in an American suburb, brings to the forefront the acting of newcomer Shia LaBeouf who was also in this year’s Transformers. LaBeouf brings an amazing amount of maturity to the teen hero he plays. And it was a sleeper hit. What is interesting about teen movies today and is present in Disturbia is the use of gadgetry. Mobile phones, video cameras heighten interest, as does an ankle bracelet that is a punishment.

Says Fred Topel, “Anyone who thought Disturbia could be the name of a family bonding movie could get a false sense of security in the opening scene. Kale (Shia LaBeouf) has a sweet fishing trip with his supportive dad, but an automobile accident on the way home costs dad his life and turns Kale into a brooding, moping mess. A fight with his teacher lands him under house arrest for the summer with nothing to do but watch the neighbours from his window. A pretty new girl (Sarah Roemer) provides good scenery, but across the street, something more disturbing is going on. Neighbour Mr Turner (David Morse) seems to have a lot in common with a serial killer recently on the news, but the ankle bracelet limits Kale’s investigation. The ankle bracelet creates a false illusion of mobility but crossing the barrier only makes things harder. This may all sound familiar, but Disturbia gives a fresh take on voyeurism.”

Fracture pits Ryan Gosling, Oscar nominee against Anthony Hopkins, Oscar winner. Hopkins plays an urbane baddie while Ryan Gosling is the Assistant District Attorney out to get him. The script is by Daniel Pynes who shot Edward Norton to fame in a courtroom drama Primal Fear in 1996.

Glenn Kenny of Premiere writes, “Those who still relish the sight of Anthony Hopkins portraying an evil criminal mastermind will get the most out of Fracture, — we see Hopkins’ character putting a bullet in his wife’s head in the movie’s first few minutes.”

We understand something is seriously afoot when the police negotiator who comes to get Hopkins’ Crawford, an ingenious aeronautic magnate, out of the house where he has shot his wife turns out to be the same guy we saw his wife making love with some minutes earlier. Subsequent entirely plausible procedural lapses lead to a confession that turns out to be inadmissible, and worse still, the so-called murder weapon retrieved at the scene turns out to have never been fired.

None of which initially bothers hotshot Government Assistant D A Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) much who has a conviction record in the high 90th percentile, and he figures he’ll get one more under his belt before he takes off to make real money in the corporate world. But Crawford’s got him figured too, and the very-self satisfied shooter seems to be getting as much pleasure out of making a monkey out of Beachum as he is out of getting away with (attempted) murder.

Fracture moves along at a spanking pace as the driven Gosling bangs his head against the wall trying to both solve the case and, as it were, serve two masters — the savvy D A he’s about to dump (David Straithairn) and the appealing big-law-firm hotshot he’s gotten into a romantic relationship with before even establishing a working relationship (Pike). We know that Gosling’s going to crack the case and find his true calling, and much of the pleasure of this film comes from watching him do it.”