Samuel L. Jackson's neighborhood

"Lakeview Terrace” is a surprisingly intense thriller, showing the dangers of suburban living. Specifically, those irritating neighbors.

The movie paints a realistic and uncomfortable picture of a neighborhood feud that starts innocently enough, but escalates to absurd heights.

The movie opens on a newlywed couple (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) who move into a house next door to Able Turner (Samuel L. Jackson), a policeman and single father of two. The characters try to get along, but Turner’s strong will and racist tendencies spark trouble.

Small events, such as the security lights on Jackson’s house shining into the couple’s bedroom, or Wilson flicking away a cigarette butt that lands in Jackson’s yard, build up to a tension that leave you squirming as Jackson begins to harass the couple, trying to get them to move away.

Jackson does some of his best work in a while here, serving up a nuanced and realistic character who is trying to protect his very rigid way of life.

The brooding presence and simmering threatening undertones he delivers in every word of subtly insulting dialogue are riveting. While he rarely threatens the couple overtly, his lines left the audience cringing with cries of “I can’t believe he said that!” running through the theater.

As he terrorizes his new neighbors and the tension builds, the movie’s real power begins to show: the relationships between the characters.

The realistic dialogue and reactions, the display of delicate social maneuvering and what happens when all our carefully constructed rules of polite society go to hell are on display here. And all this is on a backdrop of racial intolerance that can’t help but spark some debate between moviegoers.

The ending is a bit cliche and over the top, but the journey to that point is filled with uncomfortable and awkward moments not usually seen outside a Ricky Gervais project.

The cinematography is brilliant, using mostly low shots peering up at the characters to give the impression of helplessness, as the audience is powerless to stop the social train wreck occurring on screen.

Once events escalate from slashed tires and broken air conditioners, the movie takes on the feel of a gritty thriller. Although not as good as the rest of the film, the end left me satisfied and shaken.

Nothing in “Lakeview Terrace” felt unreasonable, and it seems as if this sort of situation could easily happen to anyone moving into a new environment.

This movie is a polarizing one: You’ll either love it or hate it. But go find out for yourself