Stars:
*** 1/2
Rating: PG-13 for
language, violence and mature themes
Run
Time: 1
hour, 46 minutes
A crack cast
and chilling performance by psycho stalwart Samuel L. Jackson anchors this
smart and suspenseful thriller.
Jackson is LA
cop Abel Turner, an edgy single dad of two whose grip on sanity and the
responsibilities of neighborhood watch is a tad tight.
New neighbors
Chris and Lisa Mattson (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) find out the hard
way. Abel doesn’t take kindly to their bi-racial coupling and makes it known in
a number of intimidating ways; security lights shining in windows, noisy
late-night parties and ethnic slurs evocative of racist gold-standard “Crash”.
The Mattsons
steadfastly cling to their politically correct cocoon, refusing to apply
significance where there may be none. Ultimately the situation unravels and
they crest a breaking point -- turning home-front into battle-front. Payback’s
a bitch!
“Lakeview” is
a tidy dramatic ensemble piece in the guise of a trite and choleric action pic.
Wilson and Washington boast thespian cred in navigating the sticky wickets of
their complicated union, tacit truths bubbling to the surface when the heat is
turned high.
Jackson can do
wrath in his sleep but his is a potent turn as a powder keg ready to blow; simmering
acceleration from the grey area of implication to the black and white reality
of acute humiliation.
Meaty paranoiac
thrillers are my thing and the good ones are few and far between. Divisive
director Neil LaBute (“In the Company of Men”, “Nurse Betty”) makes nary a
misstep with David Loughery and Howard Korder’s prickly script, turning
convention to controversy and climaxing with the ubiquitous yet desirable bang.
Good stuff.