If you’re willing to ignore all the obvious positions our characters are put in, “Disturbia” will be pretty excellent. I wasn’t willing to ignore all the obvious marks, so I found it to be pretty damn frustrating. Let’s see, there’s our character Kale who is known for being a liar and deceiver, then there’s our mom who is so self-involved, she can’t listen to our hero, and of course a cop who has it out for him who we know will just come in the nick of time to help our hero when in trouble. And then there’s that nasty habit of the film being so utterly derivative. If there was ever going to be a remake of “Rear Window,” you could basically re-title this and not know the difference. “Disturbia” is a pretty cheesy thriller that is never afraid to flaunt that it’s so predictable.
Like much of the neo-noir that has graced our screens both in a contemporary, and period setting, “Brick” begins at the end. As we’ve seen in the device exemplified in “Sunset Boulevard,” we begin right at the tail end of the mystery. Where is Brendan’s ex-girlfriend Emily (Emile DeRavin is both unlikable, and heartbreaking)? What I can tell you is that most audiences for this film won’t even realize that Johnson is paying homage to some of the greatest noir films ever made. From outright nods to Humphrey Bogart, and films like “The Maltese Falcon,” there are many elements with the same basic premise. Johnson never fills his audience in, but they’re watching noir set in modern times.
