Not quite so perfect suburbia in “Lakeview Terrace”

The new thriller “Lakeview Terrace” is an exciting, yet frustrating story about a newlywed couple who moves into their first home together and come to find out very quickly that their neighbor Abel, a long-time Los Angeles cop, played by Samuel L. Jackson, isn’t too thrilled about them moving in. I’m sure everyone has had his or her share of annoying or loony neighbors, but Jackson’s character gives a whole new meaning to the term “neighbor from hell.”
    The movie opens with a white man named Chris (Patrick Wilson) and his black wife Lisa (Kerry Washington) as they are moving into the neighborhood that Abel resides in with his teenage daughter and younger son. From the very beginning Abel makes obvious and questionably sarcastic comments to Chris about his distaste for him and the fact that he’s married to a black woman. Since the couple is new to the neighborhood, they try to look over Abel’s rude comments, but Abel goes out of his way to make their lives absolutely miserable.
    He starts out by breaking their air conditioner unit and soon proceeds to flash bright security lights into their windows nightly. The couple tries to get Abel to stop but he is stubborn, so they try to retaliate by shining their own security lights at his windows. The situation escalates quickly and soon Abel breaks into their garage and slashes their tires.
    Then things turn ugly — Abel hires a drug dealer to break in and wreck their home, causing a near-fatal trauma to Lisa, who happens to be a few weeks pregnant. All the while, Abel is very good about covering up all of his evil doings to where the couple doesn’t even think he’s responsible, until one small piece of evidence proves to the couple that he was the cause of all their nightmares. The events in this film are extremely exaggerated to a point, but they offer an insight to a certain reality that exists.
    In this film, you learn about how dirty cops can really be. For the most part, people look at the police as peacekeepers and good doers. But in this story you get to see the sketchy side of things: how cops get away with excessive force on suspects, how they work closely with drug dealers and let them deal in return for providing information and how they can almost never be blamed for anything. It’s a sad truth. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are a lot of great cops out there, but as with everything, there are a lot of dirty ones as well, and Jackson’s character was the almost the epitome.
    Jackson gave a great performance and was very convincing. His anger and creepy demeanor came off very well on screen. He was also very good at being a fake nice guy, which you can see as he easily manipulates his neighbors to trust him.
    Wilson, however, could use some more acting classes. Standing next to Jackson and Washington, Wilson fell short on his acting skills. His character was very plain and one-dimensional. You didn’t see into who he was or his personality. It seemed as if he was just delivering lines off a piece of paper. Washington did a fabulous job with her delivery, emotion and expression in this film.
    For a Samuel L. Jackson movie, this was actually pretty decent to watch. It kept me interested but it had its slow parts. If anything, this film left me frustrated in the end. Most likely because it was a perfect, though extreme, example of how the system — whether it be the government or police force —have complete control over everyone and can abuse their power.
    I think that a lot of people feel the same way and have a certain degree of anti-authority in them because of the lack of control the common people have over their own lives. It always seems like no matter how hard you fight to prove your point, the people with the most money, power and influence will always rule over everyone and everything. This film basically reinforced the negative feelings I already had about society.