Lakeview Terrace, DVD Review

Movie:

Lakeview Terrace is a film about relationships and about prejudice. Samuel L Jackson is Abel Turner, a 28 year old veteran of the LAPD who has worked really hard all his life in order to afford a nice house in a nice area, he is self proclaimed guardian of the cul-de-sac that he lives on. He is also a bigoted racist with a massive chip on his shoulder.

The opening scenes however make us believe that Abel Turner is a good, righteous man; a widower who looks at his dead wife’s picture, says his prayers in the morning and then tries to teach his kids respect and discipline. He spies the Mattson’s moving next door they are newly weds moving into their first home in Lakeview Terrace. Initially he believes that Chris (Patrick Wilson) is the moving guy helping another family move in as Lisa (Kerry Washington) is with her Father and walking around the new property. We see his face drop when he realises that Chris and Lisa are in fact a married couple and he doesn’t like the fact that Chris is a white guy and Lisa is a black woman and that they are together; and he makes sure that at every opportunity he will make their lives a misery, They don’t have the option of calling the Police and Turner uses that fact very much to his advantage.

The bulk of the film concentrates on the “fun and games” between the Mattson’s and Turner, this moves along fairly predictably in terms of both pace and the events that actually unfold before us gently ramping up the tension and the lengths that Turner is prepared to go to in order to make his new neighbours move away towards the end of the film. The predictability is disappointing in some ways especially when you’re correctly guessing what will happen a few scenes before they actually occur whilst not killing the film off entirely it may sully it for some. Indeed there are some interesting bits where we find out more about Abel Turner and possible reasons that may have pushed him into becoming the racist person that he has become.

Sam Jackson plays a fairly typical role in the film, and is a good choice for the role as a look from a mean Jackson can make almost anyone whither visibly and he uses that ability very much to his advantage in Lakeview Terrace. Kerry Washington is one half of the inter racial couple, she wants to start a family and settle down, be happy but is also aware of the challenges that comes with being a black woman married to a white guy, not only from normal people in the street but also from within their respective families. Patrick Wilson is the husband facing off with Sam Jackson I found him believable in the role, and he gave a good , honest performance. Not only with his reactions to the situation with his neighbour but also with his father in law and his wife. In fact I detected that in his own household he was almost as controlling as Turner was in his, everything that Lisa and Chris have done has been what HE wanted to do and Lisa leads us to believe that she has gone along with it in order to try and go with the flow.

Throughout the whole movie the race issue is brought to the fore, Turner the cop is a racist, he hates the fact that a black woman and a white man are together. Lisa fathers whilst not openly a racist seems to dislike Chris and looks down upon him, even between Chris and Lisa themselves the question is raised, they are both uncomfortable with the parents seemingly tolerating them, Lisa also wants to start a family and Chris is unsure, him citing that they agreed to wait as an excuse but you wonder if it because he is unsure if the marriage will last. And it is this them that is at the fore in almost every scene within the film.

There is also a sub plot involving wildfires that are moving closer and closer to the neighbourhood. I been trying to think of the purpose if involving this and I guess there is a number of explanations. One possible explanation could be that as the fires draw nearer and we see the intense flames and smoke billowing into the air it replicates the intensity between the two neighbours giving us a hell like back drop in the final scenes of the film. Alternatively it could be there merely as a vehicle for setting up the final scenes of the movie, making everything more plausible, or maybe even something else that I’ve not considered perhaps it will be explained in the commentary that I have not watched yet.

Predictability issues aside I enjoyed the film although I do believe that without Samuel L Jackson doing his thing on screen it would have been very mediocre, I enjoyed the build up of tensions within the film and it helps that Kerry Washington is very easy on the eye, it is a watchable movie and I was entertained. Even though the story is quite slow and drawn out I was never bored.

Extras:

Commentary with Director Neil Labute and Kerry Washington:
I found this and interesting Neil and Kerry give us an interesting dialogue in a fairly lively conversation; often giving us additional information about scenes and the theory behind them. Labute does most of the talking here but Kerry has a fair amount of time too.

Deleted Scenes:
There are eight deleted scenes in total, you can view them individually or play all, you can also choose to listen to the director’s commentary on them which I always choose if available as it is nice to hear why the scenes didn’t make the film, if indeed they tell us the reasons. Which he does and I think they are all good reasons for taking out of the film.

Welcome to Lakeview Terrace: Behind the scenes:
Three behind the scenes features, again we can play all or individually. They don’t run for long but they are pretty interesting for the time that they are on, we find out more about the stunts and production values as well as Neil Labutes opinion on the shooting decision he made. There is a lot of the usual “everyone is wonderful” comments.

Overall:
An entertaining film although predictable and probably around 20 minutes too long concentrating on a plot that has been down a fair few times before however Sam L Jackson takes the movie from being just average to one that is entertaining and watchable.

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