Blu-ray Review: Disturbia
By
Brad Pipkins Video Format: 1.78:1 1080p (AVC)
Audio Formats: English Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS-ES 6.1
Starring: Shia LeBeouf, Sarah Roemer, Aaron Yoo, David Morse, Carrie-Ann Moss
Directed By: D.J. Caruso
Release Date: August 7, 2007
General
After losing his father to a tragic automobile accident, Kale (Shia LeBeouf) is still coping a year later. After being confronted by his Spanish teacher about failing the class, Kale loses it and punches his teacher in the face. Now sentenced to 90 days of house arrest, Kale must come up with ways to keep himself occupied. After getting his XBOX Live and iTunes accounts canceled, he is left with nothing else to do but to observe the people that live around him. Lucky for him, a rather pretty young girl by the name of Ashley (Sarah Roemer) has just moved in to the house next door.
After witnessing a few oddities while house-bound, Kale along with his best friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) and Ashley begin to suspect that something is up with Kale’s other neighbor, Mr. Turner (David Morse). After coming to the conclusion that Turner could possibly be the serial killer police are looking for, he and his friends set out to unravel the truth.
What could have been a pretty standard teen slasher turns out to be a smart and witty thriller that many can enjoy. The acting by LeBeouf, Roemer and Yoo is nothing short of amazing, and David Morse plays the bad guy perfectly.
Tech Specs Video: With Disturbia being such a new film, it’s no surprise that the transfer is great! The overall clarity and depth is something that we’ve all come to expect from hi-def, and this title delivers! Mostly shot indoors, the image maintains a very sharp look even when showing Kale’s messy room. Black levels are extremely solid and there is much detail to be had in shadow areas. Disturbia has a rather standard color palette when indoors, but things heat up and get more harsh-lit when outdoors. There are some instances of softness, but it’s readily apparent that this is the fault of the camera lens and not the encode.
Audio: Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray versions contain the same Dolby EX and DTS-ES tracks, so no difference will be had as far as audio is concerned. For this review, I listened to the DTS-ES track, which is maxed out at a 1.5Mbps bitrate. Overall, it was quite an impressive lossy mix. Dialogue was always understandable and never got lost in the action. Surrounds are very lively and really help to bring the viewer into the action. This is also a very bass prominent mix so those without a hefty sub may miss out on some of the low, low bass. The opening sequence will give you jolt if you aren’t expecting it. Definitely a demo-worthy moment.
What really perplexes me is why Dreamworks didn't include a Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-MA track. TrueHD can be decoded on the majority of players right now, and if Dreamworks had included a DTS HD-MA track, we would still be able to play back the lossy core while knowing that when MA decoding comes along we could listen to the lossless track. Studios need to start thinking about the future, because many people aren’t going to double-dip just for lossless audio.
Extras
Extra features include a commentary track by director D.J. Caruso, Shia LeBeouf and Sarah Roemer. Also included are deleted scenes, a making of featurette, a blooper reel and a music video for “Don’t Make Me Wait” by This World Fair. All features listed are presented in HD.
Menus/Navigation
Menu navigation is fairly straightforward and intuitive, though it should be noted that you can not access the special features menu while playing the movie. You instead have to select “main” from the pop-up menu (which takes you to the main menu) to access the special features. Not only does this not make sense, but it also stops the movie.
Overall Impressions
I saw Disturbia in the theater and was thoroughly impressed by it. After watching it again in HD, I’m even more impressed. Shia LeBeouf could easily become the next Tom Hanks if he chooses his roles right, and he hasn’t faltered yet. The transfer is also done very well, though I think we’d all like to see some type of lossless audio option. If you like thrillers in general, you can’t go wrong with Disturbia on Blu-ray or HD-DVD.
