It comes to no doubt that Samuel L. Jackson is still playing the same role here as we've sen him numerous times in the past. His fury, his intimidation and his determination offers very little in terms of originality in his performances. "Lakeview Terrace" is no exception. Here, Jackson comes on as a veteran cop with almost 30 years in the force as director Neil Labute, a noted playwright, takes the helm as he guides Jackson to pose as threat to a young interracial couple (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) starting a new life in this ethnically diverse neighborhood.
Sure the premise is great and shows a potential for greatness, it's the pedestrian ending that really catches the audience off guard like so many other lazy scripts before this. The banal ending spells out commercial openly as opposed to art. Though LaBute didn't write the script, with two writers trying to usurp the other, many of LaBute's famous lines from previous outings were added in, but not necessarily for good measure.
Performance wise, Patrick Wilson is wonderful as the unfortunate victim to Jackson's obsessive demeanor and when the two are in the same scenes, the tensity heats up in epic proportions.
Set in the cozy neighborhood, Abel Turner (Jackson) feels calm and relived that his two children are safe in this area from drug-addicts, gangsters and inner-city parasites. He goes so far as to make them sound intelligent by avoiding them from talking in Ebonics. He's not tough because of his wife's sudden death, he's been that way since the day he was born.
Though not entirely bigoted, he has a partner who's Hispanic and lives near an Asian neighbor, we are lead to assume that the new neighbors of Abel would get along just fine. The main setback is that the new neighbor, Chris Mattson (Wilson) a Caucasian man is married to a black woman named Lisa (Kerry Washington). That's when things get ugly. It's strange and hardly explainable why this bothers Abel so much, it reminds me of the hostility George Jefferson had on the Willis' on "The Jeffersons". Only here it's a lot more darker in subject matter. But the purpose comes into effect and this is where the tensity begins to manifest.
We can still understand Abel's fears and for the protection of his children and the fears that they face. But eventually his fear and hostility escalates into nothing more than petty anger and self-centered hatred. He feels that interracial couples are a threat to the changing world we live in and doesn't want it to be an influence towards his teen-aged daughter.
One of the more fascinating scenes where Lisa and the daughter were exchanging love interests in a Caucasian boy, at the poolside without her father knowing. Abel isn't the only character who's disdained about her marriage to a white guy. Lisa's father who's a lawyer is peeved by her commitment to Chris, but later reconciles with her are just some of the more believable scenes in this movie.
It would have been more natural if Jackson was more restrained and not so over-the-top scary. Chris listens to hip-hop an R&B which angers people surrounding him, and when Chris gives his "why can't we all get along" and Abel shrugs him off. LaBute has a resume of making skin issues personal. "Lakeview Terrace" clearly examines the insecurity of that perfectly clear. And it was tripe that we add a wildfire coming their way that's tamer than the inner fire between the characters.
Sure the premise is great and shows a potential for greatness, it's the pedestrian ending that really catches the audience off guard like so many other lazy scripts before this. The banal ending spells out commercial openly as opposed to art. Though LaBute didn't write the script, with two writers trying to usurp the other, many of LaBute's famous lines from previous outings were added in, but not necessarily for good measure.
Performance wise, Patrick Wilson is wonderful as the unfortunate victim to Jackson's obsessive demeanor and when the two are in the same scenes, the tensity heats up in epic proportions.
Set in the cozy neighborhood, Abel Turner (Jackson) feels calm and relived that his two children are safe in this area from drug-addicts, gangsters and inner-city parasites. He goes so far as to make them sound intelligent by avoiding them from talking in Ebonics. He's not tough because of his wife's sudden death, he's been that way since the day he was born.
Though not entirely bigoted, he has a partner who's Hispanic and lives near an Asian neighbor, we are lead to assume that the new neighbors of Abel would get along just fine. The main setback is that the new neighbor, Chris Mattson (Wilson) a Caucasian man is married to a black woman named Lisa (Kerry Washington). That's when things get ugly. It's strange and hardly explainable why this bothers Abel so much, it reminds me of the hostility George Jefferson had on the Willis' on "The Jeffersons". Only here it's a lot more darker in subject matter. But the purpose comes into effect and this is where the tensity begins to manifest.
We can still understand Abel's fears and for the protection of his children and the fears that they face. But eventually his fear and hostility escalates into nothing more than petty anger and self-centered hatred. He feels that interracial couples are a threat to the changing world we live in and doesn't want it to be an influence towards his teen-aged daughter.
One of the more fascinating scenes where Lisa and the daughter were exchanging love interests in a Caucasian boy, at the poolside without her father knowing. Abel isn't the only character who's disdained about her marriage to a white guy. Lisa's father who's a lawyer is peeved by her commitment to Chris, but later reconciles with her are just some of the more believable scenes in this movie.
It would have been more natural if Jackson was more restrained and not so over-the-top scary. Chris listens to hip-hop an R&B which angers people surrounding him, and when Chris gives his "why can't we all get along" and Abel shrugs him off. LaBute has a resume of making skin issues personal. "Lakeview Terrace" clearly examines the insecurity of that perfectly clear. And it was tripe that we add a wildfire coming their way that's tamer than the inner fire between the characters.