Neil LaBute kind of redeemed himself directing "Lakeview Terrace", after the awfully laughable remake of "The Wicker Man" ('06), which was tore apart by critics and was a box office failure of a colossal magnitude, that i still wonder how he got work handling another film.
Here he filmed a daring screenplay by David Loughery, which reminds a lot of the domestic / psychological thrillers from the early 90's, such as John Schlesinger's "Pacific Heights" ('90) starring Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine & Michael Keaton and especially, "Unlawful Entry" ('92) directed by Jonathan Kaplan and starring Kurt Russell, Madeleine Stowe & Ray Liotta.
Samuel L. Jackson delivers one his best performances ever on-screen playing Abel Turner, a Los Angeles patrol cop and a widower trying to raise his two children in the multicultural middle-class neighbourhood of Lakeview Terrace, a suburban district in the north east quadrant of the San Fernando Valley, L.A. When an interracial newlywed couple, Chris and Lisa Mattson (played by Patrick Wilson & Kerry Washington) moves next door, Abel shows signs of intolerance and step by step reveals his bigotry towards Chris and things got worse when he's suspended from the LAPD after a case of police brutality and starts to falling down at a psychological level...
"Lakeview Terrace" is visually appealing, elegantly shot by the camera of Rogier Stoffers, and competent directed by LaBute: he can provide tension at the right moments and handle the storytelling in a crescendo of menace, maintaining a sense of pace and at the same time giving space for the characters to develop.
The audacious and provoking screenplay shows the other side of racism, the so-called 'reverse racism', a brave (& rather strange) move coming from the politically correct Hollywood, that at the same time deals with domestic disturbance; the difficulty for a widower to raise two underage children and patrolling one of the most crime infested areas of L.A., dealing in a daily basis with low life criminals.
The only letdown that turns the movie away from being listed as a great film of its genre, it's the somewhat disappointig III Act, when the plot contrivances starts to go to the cliche route and the movie speeds up to near potboiler territory with an implausible climax.
In acting terms, we can buy that Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington are a couple, they display good on-screen chemistry together, but Patrick's acting is so superior that completely overshadows Kerry's struggling to act her part. About Jackson, like i've mentioned above, he totally nails the Abe Turner's character and had the oportunity here to show his range as an accomplished character actor, instead of his usual stereotyped "Bad A**" with an attitude. Jay Hernandez from "Hostel" fame, adds nothing to the overall plot, his character serves the only purpose of being Jackson's partner in the Force and his sub-plot of leaving patrol to became a detective went nowhere. The experienced viewer may be guessing that he will have the same fate of Peter Berg in "Copland" ('97) or Roger E. Mosley in "Unlawful Entry", somekind of a relevance to be there, but not.
In short, "Lakeview Terrace" is a piece of solid entertainment and an engaging film to follow with a re-watchable value, that could have been even better had the III Act being totally re-written and the more edgy scenes that are presented in the "deleted scenes" section of the DVD edition should not have been left in the cutting room floor, because it kind of enhances the story and give it a more sordid touch to the whole.
As a footnote, it still surprises me how Will Smith could have produced a movie like this...
Here he filmed a daring screenplay by David Loughery, which reminds a lot of the domestic / psychological thrillers from the early 90's, such as John Schlesinger's "Pacific Heights" ('90) starring Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine & Michael Keaton and especially, "Unlawful Entry" ('92) directed by Jonathan Kaplan and starring Kurt Russell, Madeleine Stowe & Ray Liotta.
Samuel L. Jackson delivers one his best performances ever on-screen playing Abel Turner, a Los Angeles patrol cop and a widower trying to raise his two children in the multicultural middle-class neighbourhood of Lakeview Terrace, a suburban district in the north east quadrant of the San Fernando Valley, L.A. When an interracial newlywed couple, Chris and Lisa Mattson (played by Patrick Wilson & Kerry Washington) moves next door, Abel shows signs of intolerance and step by step reveals his bigotry towards Chris and things got worse when he's suspended from the LAPD after a case of police brutality and starts to falling down at a psychological level...
"Lakeview Terrace" is visually appealing, elegantly shot by the camera of Rogier Stoffers, and competent directed by LaBute: he can provide tension at the right moments and handle the storytelling in a crescendo of menace, maintaining a sense of pace and at the same time giving space for the characters to develop.
The audacious and provoking screenplay shows the other side of racism, the so-called 'reverse racism', a brave (& rather strange) move coming from the politically correct Hollywood, that at the same time deals with domestic disturbance; the difficulty for a widower to raise two underage children and patrolling one of the most crime infested areas of L.A., dealing in a daily basis with low life criminals.
The only letdown that turns the movie away from being listed as a great film of its genre, it's the somewhat disappointig III Act, when the plot contrivances starts to go to the cliche route and the movie speeds up to near potboiler territory with an implausible climax.
In acting terms, we can buy that Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington are a couple, they display good on-screen chemistry together, but Patrick's acting is so superior that completely overshadows Kerry's struggling to act her part. About Jackson, like i've mentioned above, he totally nails the Abe Turner's character and had the oportunity here to show his range as an accomplished character actor, instead of his usual stereotyped "Bad A**" with an attitude. Jay Hernandez from "Hostel" fame, adds nothing to the overall plot, his character serves the only purpose of being Jackson's partner in the Force and his sub-plot of leaving patrol to became a detective went nowhere. The experienced viewer may be guessing that he will have the same fate of Peter Berg in "Copland" ('97) or Roger E. Mosley in "Unlawful Entry", somekind of a relevance to be there, but not.
In short, "Lakeview Terrace" is a piece of solid entertainment and an engaging film to follow with a re-watchable value, that could have been even better had the III Act being totally re-written and the more edgy scenes that are presented in the "deleted scenes" section of the DVD edition should not have been left in the cutting room floor, because it kind of enhances the story and give it a more sordid touch to the whole.
As a footnote, it still surprises me how Will Smith could have produced a movie like this...