LAKEVIEW TERRACE (2008)
Sometimes a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson actually can take you by surprise. These last couple of years his roles have basically consisted of Samuel L. Jackson being Samuel L. Jackson, but in different outfits. Hell, in “The Spirit” he managed to wear an impressive number of weird outfits and sideburns and whatnot, but he was still the same old Samuel L. Jackson. You always know what you´re gonna get with him and there´s a comfort in that. I mean, look at Kevin Costner. I like the guy and it´s the same with Sam Jack: no matter how crappy the film may be there´s always a pleasure in watching him chew up the scenery and leave everyone else behind by acting up a storm.
Now, I´m not gonna lie to you: Samuel is still that same Samuel L. Jackson in “Lakeview Terrace”. It wasn´t Jackson´s performance that took me by surprise (because we´ve all seen him do this schtick a million times before), instead it was the fact that I enjoyed this movie a whole lot more than I thought I would. This isn´t a perfect film by any means and I remember that it got pretty shitty reviews when it was released but I think that it has a lot more to offer than what you might suspect from just glancing at the cover.
Chris Mattson (Patrick Wilson) and his Afro-American wife Lisa Mattson (Kerry Washington) moves to a new house, situated on Lakeview Terrace, in a safe neighborhood. Their neighbor is Abel Turner (Jackson), an LAPD Officer who´s also a widower and is now raising his two teenage kids alone, and by a strict regime of rules. Something about the Mattson´s interracial relationship rubs Abel the wrong way and it doesn´t take long before that initial neighborhood bickering turns nasty.
What makes this movie so interesting and what elevates it from just being “another” thriller, is the fact that director Neil LaBute (who´s also responsible for the movie everyone loves to hate and that I just plain love: the remake of “The Wicker Man”) in this film lets the African American be guilty of being the racist, and not the other way around. Normally, Jackson would´ve played Wilson´s part and it´s this switching of the roles that makes it interesting. There´s a great scene where Abel catches his kids spying on his neighbors while they´re having sex in their backyard and he does a great job of conveying how disgusted he is by the fact that this guy is having sex with a black woman and this is what launches him into a campaign of harassment and intimidation, all in order to get them to move out of the neighborhood.
This isn´t exactly groundbreaking stuff, though. We´ve all seen the psychotic cop make life worse for people around him: Richard Gere in “Internal Affairs”, Ray Liotta in “Unlawful Entry” and so on… And say what you will but it´s an effective storytelling device, because who the hell are you gonna call when your neighbor starts harassing you? Ghostbusters? I guess you could, but it won´t do you that much good. That leaves you with the cops but when the same fucker who´s after you knows every guy on the job, knows whose shift it is and everybody owes him a favor or two, things get a bit more complicated.
Combine this with the force of nature that is Samuel L. Jackson and you have yourself one enjoyable movie screen psycho. There´s something about this kind of roles that fits him like a hand in a glove: the masculine, dominating patriarch who always knows best and ain´t afraid to go to most absurd lengths to prove it. There´s always a joy in watching an actor sinking their teeth into a role, especially if it´s a villain, that they really enjoy playing. And this is especially true with Jackson. He´s at his best when he gets to dabble in the arena of the mentally unstable, I think. It´s pretty damn impressive as well that he manages to make a character that basically wears pink Lacoste shirts for the major part of the movie so intimidating. Samuel L. Jackson knows his shit.
Now, I don´t know if there is such a thing as “reverse” racism and if you consider the fact that director LaBute is a white Caucasian male, one might argue that this movie is even more racist because of this, since the movie´s psycho is an African American. I wouldn´t argue that, but it walks a thin line of being politically incorrect and that´s what makes it so fascinating. It deals with themes that we don´t see too often in American movies: that racism isn´t a one way street and the white man´s guilt in today´s society. I don´t think it´s strange that such a thing exists in today´s society because let´s face it, our white forefathers hasn´t exactly been the greatest of guys, many of them. Let´s be honest: many of them were pretty shitty guys. Take that Hitler guy, for example. He was kind of a douche.
But that´s why I don´t think it´s strange that many of us (Caucasians, I mean) actually do feel some sort of guilt for just being who we are. I especially think that´s true for where I live, in Sweden. And to be honest, I think that the movie paints a pretty plausible picture of why the character of Abel Turner would be annoyed by this guy, who sweeps into the neighborhood and buys the kind of house that he has worked double shifts his entire life to afford and on top of that, he´s got an African American wife. I can understand why that would rub the guy the wrong way because I think that every one of us has a bit of a racist in us, unfortunately.
But that´s why it´s so refreshing to see someone turn the tables of what we´re used to see in a movie like this. Like I said earlier, would the movie be equally “racist” by making the villain white? I don´t know the answer to that one but it´s interesting to think about.
Now, in order to fully appreciate this film you can´t compare it to LaBute´s previous films because they´ve been far more scathing, poisonous depictions of American males and their behavior (“The Wicker Man” excluded, of course) so if you set this one beside them, this is a pretty weak effort. However, if you compare this movie to other ones in the same genre, I think this is a pretty strong effort. For those of you who´ve seen LaBute´s previous movies, you know that if there´s one thing that guy does well, it´s creating an uncomfortable mood. Remember “In The Company of Men”, anyone?
However, I have to admit that he has problem carrying the whole film through. It starts off excellent and that whole uncomfortable mood isn´t very obvious at the beginning, but as the film progresses it builds momentum and after a while it´s like you´re watching an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, only with a psychotic cop in the lead instead and played not for laughs but totally serious. But like with so many other thrillers, when the end comes, it isn´t entirely believable…
Then there´s the pretty heavy handed plot device of having brush fires looming at the horizon, only to come closer and closer the longer we get into the story. Now, luckily I´ve done my fair share of reading film theory and shit like that so I was able to decipher this as the metaphor that it is, and just like the racial tension that exists between our characters this goddamn fire is like a ticking bomb! Didn´t see that one coming, did ya?
Honestly, this element of the film along with the pretty stupid ending, is the weakest thing about the film but I don´t think that you should let that discourage you from watching this one. As far as thrillers go, this is a pretty good one.
Until next time: take scare!
Thomas