Lakeview Terrace (2008)

So last night I watched this thriller which stars the great Samuel L Jackson as an LA cop who is far from happy when an inter-racial couple (white male, black female) move into the house next door. Abel (Jackson) clearly values his community and the safety of the street in which he lives as he goes on late night patrols of the neighbourhood. He is like a malevolent version of the Richard Briers character in the eighties BBC sitcom "Ever Decreasing Circles".

Initially Abel just makes offhand comments to new neighbour Chris (Partick Wilson). "We have a lot in common" says Chris. "yeah, like what?" retorts Abel in an accusing tone. A disagreement over Abel's night-time security light shining into the couple's bedroom window becomes the catalyst for the arguments to become more vociferous. Abel's refusal to move the light inevitably leads to Chris installing his own light to shine into Abel's room. "Great John, very mature" (Die Hard 1988) .

Chris' wife Lisa (Kerry Washington in a rather thankless role) expects her husband to pacify Abel but Chris is the weak modern male character (as seen previously played by Matthew Modine in "Pacific Heights") which leads to disagreements between them as the conflict escalates.

Director LaBute (trying to make amends for his woeful remake of "The Wicker Man" two years earlier) patterns an always intriguing but fairly derivative thriller here. Nothing especially surprising occurs but the film is solid and engrossing, anchored by the ever reliable Jackson who once again shows that he can give a great performance with only good material.

Although Abel's comments are deliberately antagonistic, his remark that Chris can listen to all the rap music he wants "but when you wake up in the morning, you'll still be white" should be taken on board by all the white kids you see on the streets wanting to be black. When we later learn of the reasons behind Abel's bigotry, it serves a story purpose but doesn't work in terms of trying to humanise him. A less clearcut delineation between the good couple next door and the bad Abel would have made the film more interesting and set it apart from others of its type.

In truth, Jonathan Kaplan's 1992 film "Unlawful Entry" was a better example of this kind of thriller, benefitting from stronger performances from Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe as the couple under threat from unhinged cop Ray Liotta. And after all, no-one does psycho like Ray.

Although you could say that the story could take place anywhere, it would seem that the idea of people taking offence from an inter-racial couple is much more at home in a film set in LA than it would be in London, for example. Are we just more tolerant over here?

America, land of the free...

HoganMonkey gives "Lakeview Terrace" six out of ten on the banana scale.