Lakeview Terrace (15)

Jan 6 2009 by Andrew Welsh, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

A YOUNG couple’s dream move turns into a waking nightmare in Neil LaBute’s Lakeview Terrace.

Chris and Lisa Mattson, played by Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, are typically optimistic newly weds who arrive at their recently-purchased Californian home looking for a slice of high living.

The property may be located in a gorgeously scenic suburb in the sunshine state, but the pair discover their house is not so luxurious as to preserve their privacy from the prying eyes of cop neighbour Abel Turner (Samuel L Jackson).

Turner, a divorced father-of-two, initially justifies his prurience as a defence of family values, but it quickly becomes apparent he has darker motivations.

LaBute enjoyed lavish praise for his earlier, typically candid works including In the Company of Men (1997) and Your Friends and Neighbours (1998), before trying his hand at comedy (Nurse Betty, 2000) and a period piece, Possession (2002).

However, things went awry with his American remake of the UK occult classic The Wicker Man, which proved a spectacular flop at the box office and amongst critics.

Lakeview returns LaBute to more familiar ground, where he successfully manages to inject a hitherto unseen thriller element.

From the off there’s a racial tension that steadily builds against the sanitised residential backdrop dominated by manicured lawns and security lighting.

The plot rarely departs from a setting that suggests nothing is as placid as it seems. When it does, LaBute handles the camera and dialogue with his trademark verve.

Away from his own backyard, Jackson’s renegade pursues a felon in an knife-edge scene that sees him take a typically firm approach.

Such action lands him in hot water with the LAPD, but LaBute adds depth by provoking a shard of sympathy for an intimidating old timer simply following a once-permissible strict moral code.

Turner duly unravels before our eyes in a career-best performance from Jackson that makes for a riveting watch.

The out-of-touch cop’s pent-up anger manifests itself in his victimisation of the increasingly nervy Mattsons, but Lakeview is far from being an anti-police statement.

Matters reach a head in this intriguing exploration of contradictory social mores as hillside fires rage around the estate.

It’s a most fitting analogy for a film that looks set to burn through much of the complacency in PC-dominated Hollywood.

Rating 4/5