Paul J. Nemecek Sometimes it's easier to enjoy a movie if you start with relatively low expectations. Panic Room is directed by David Fincher (Seven and Fight Club) and stars two great actors who are capable directors in their own right (Jodie Foster and Forrest Whittaker). Because of this my expectations were fairly high, perhaps unreasonably so.Jodie Foster plays a wealthy divorcee with a teenage daughter. As they are looking at a house they are considering buying in New York, they discover that the house has a unique feature-a hidden room surrounded in concrete and steel. The room comes complete with sophisticated surveillance equipment, a direct phone line and a variety of supplies designed to facilitate survival in the case of a siege.What they don't know is that the house has another secret, a hidden treasure worth millions of bonds. The person who does know this enlists the aid of two henchmen to help him find the hidden treasure. They think they are entering a vacant house. When they discover otherwise, the complications unfold-enter the panic room.One of the henchmen (Forrest Whittaker) has spent the last 12 years installing safe rooms for wealthy people. He knows the ins and outs, and he knows that the treasure they want is locked in the panic room with the two rightful inhabitants of the house.This is an intriguing premise with some interesting symbolism. The safe room that keeps the bad guys out soon becomes a prison that keeps the good guys in. A similar premise was developed in the film The Last Castle when Robert Redford compares castles and prisons. Same basic design, it's just that one is designed to keep people out, the other designed to keep people in.The film has some excellent cinematography and some great editing. Jodie Foster and Forrest Whittaker turn in great performances as would be expected. Kristen Stewart does an excellent job as the teenage daughter. The other characters are, unfortunately, cartoon cutouts. So much so that at points the film looks a bit too much like Home Alone.Don't get me wrong. The film is suspenseful and has some outstanding elements. Jodie Foster continues to be one of the top actors working today and her performance here is compelling. In spite of the aforementioned flaws, the film really is worth a look-especially if I have helped lower your expectations.

rdrvenkar This movie Panic Room about a single mom and her diabetic daughter's fight to get through a night of terror is amazing! After buying a house in New York following a hard divorce they are greeted on their first night in the house with 3 burglars who know something about their house that they don't. This movie was fast paced and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Highly recommend it for any audience that enjoys action!

The_Truth_You_Cant_Handle Since the vast majority of the "reviews" I've seen on the site for this fast paced, fantastically acted, tense, intelligent thriller from one of the greatest living directors today are lists of things they think make them more intelligent than the writers, I'll retort in kind. Skip to the final paragraph to avoid the following spoiler-based refutations:1. Why did she get such a big house?: She's a rich, recent divorcé with a kid who wanted a backyard in New York City and she could afford it.2. Why didn't she hear them whispering three floors down through several doors and walls?: Sort of speaks for itself, doesn't it, very quietly? 3. Why didn't they just leave them in the elevator?: Because they didn't make the decision, she did because she felt the impenetrable panic room was safer. 4. How did they get the gas in the vents when it had its own ventilation system?: Because the guy who designed them knew how to get into it, its separate from the main vents but he knew the precise location at which he could break through the dry wall and drill into the simple polyurethane vent, not steal or cement. 5. Why didn't the fire blow up the propane tank?: Because the propane was being filtered into the vent secured to the wall with tape, the heat melted the tape and the air pressure blew the hose away from the wall and the further from the wall the faster the gas dissipated, that's why only the guy right next to the wall got burned. 6. Why didn't the designer know about the intercom?: He didn't say he didn't know, he just told the one character that you couldn't just talk back to the camera with no audio functionality, you have to push the wall-mounted intercom button that was behind the bed cushion he flipped over first. 7. Why would Forest Whitaker go back to help the family?: Because he didn't know the psycho, didn't plan for violence at all and had a wife and kid of his own whom they likely reminded him of as you can see by his constant defense of them from violence imposed by Raul. He just planned to walk in, open the panic room door and crack the safe. 8. Why let the bonds fly in the wind at the end?: They weren't properly secured in his jacket so he was still clutching them with his hands up until the police told him to open his palm so they could check for weapons. 9. Why was the climax so anti-climactic?: Because it wasn't a big dumb summer blockbuster, not everything has to end with a huge explosion, they get back to business as usual and try to get on with their lives, happily ever after.While this isn't admittedly Fincher's best, it bares his signature, style, detail, passion and quality, most directors are content to throw in a jump scare when the mirror closes, Fincher goes out of his way to make even the most mundane of plots smart, exciting and entertaining. It's not a perfect film or a piece of high art, but it's an 8/10 from me.

Bravesfan82 This is a shortened review. For my full length review, please visit: http://guywithamovieblog.blogspot.com/ I recently watched an analysis on the career of David Fincher, one of my favorite directors, and it put me in the mood to re-watch a lot of his films. It had been a while since I'd seen Panic Room, so I decided to start with that one.Panic Room is often considered to be a lesser work by the talented Fincher, but I think that's very unfair. I've always really liked the film, ever since I saw it in the theater during its release in 2002, but after watching it again, I think it may be one of Fincher's best - and a nearly perfect film.I think some of the criticisms of Panic Room may stem from the fact that it's a relatively simple film: a recently divorced woman (Meg played by Jodie Foster) and her pre-teen daughter (Sarah played by Kirsten Stewart) move into a new home, an extravagant three floor Manhattan brownstone with a secured "panic room" off of the master bedroom. The real estate agent explains to Meg how the room operates and how "you can never be too safe these days". On their first night there, a trio of men (Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, and Dwight Yoakam) break in and intend to rob them. Fincher, by way of his technical expertise and ability to direct his talented cast, manages to elevate the film quite a bit.The film starts out with a staple of Fincher's films, an interesting opening credits sequence. While not at the level of Se7en or Fight Club, the credits for Panic Room are first rate. Thanks to the score and title design, Fincher is able to evoke the feeling of a Hitchcock-like thriller and sets up what is going to be an intense and exhilarating film. I'd even go as far to say, this is the exact type of film Hitchcock himself would have made if he were making films in the 21st century. Like the best thrillers, the back story and set up is handled well and very quickly - within ten minutes or so, we have all the pertinent information we need about Meg's separation, Sarah's medical condition, the layout of the house, and the previous owner's family squabbles.As Meg and Sarah go to sleep on that first night, the three men break into the home and Meg retreats to the panic room with Sarah in tow. It's soon revealed that the men want something that is in the panic room itself and the film is at full tilt speed very quickly, and it barely lets up at all during its 112 minute running time.Meg and Sarah are fully realized, believable, and strong female characters. Foster, who replaced Nicole Kidman early in production, gives one of her very best performances as the terrified and angry mother who would do anything to protect her child. Stewart, best known now for not being able to fully close her mouth and the Twilight franchise, showed a lot of promise as a youngster. Sarah is, at times, brash and defiant, but then also scared and childlike. Stewart is able to handle both sides of the character with ease. Their chemistry together is palpable - you really believe they're mother and daughter.The three intruders - Burnham (Whitaker), Junior (Leto), and Raoul (Yoakam) - also work well together. Each one is a bit of an arch type - the mild mannered Burnham, the spoiled hothead Junior, and the sadistic wild card Raoul - but are all so interesting and well acted that it hardly matters we've seen these types of characters many times before. Fincher introduces us to this trio with a marvelous "floating" camera trick - digitally stitched together in post production - that goes through the whole house in seemingly one take, following them from one door to the next as they attempt to gain access. The shot is so masterfully done, it's really a sight to behold.I mentioned the score for the opening credits, but it's really wonderful throughout. It helps build and maintain the tension all through the film, up until the breathtaking finale, where everything comes to a head. Considering I've seen Panic Room at least four or five times and know exactly what's going to happen, you wouldn't think I'd be tense and on edge while watching it, but I was. There are several moments where I caught myself actually holding my breath, due to my excitement and fear.Generally, I don't care for the use of slow motion in films, but Fincher uses it in a couple of key sequences to add to the tension and dread, and he does so with his usual technical brilliance. These moments are heart racing affairs, where I found myself wishing things would speed back up just so I could see the outcome that much sooner.Considering how suspenseful and tense the film is, it might be a bit of surprise to hear there are some great moments of comedy, as well. Most of these instances come from Leto and Yoakam's performances, but Foster manages to add a couple of her own, too. It's a perfect mix, so that you don't get overwhelmed by the darkness and the dread.My only complaint in regards to Panic Room, is that some of the character's back stories (especially Burnham's) are handled in such a stiff and obvious manner. I'm not sure how else this important information could have been delivered, but I'm sure there had to be a better way.Overall, this is a tiny nitpick, though, and in the end Fincher has managed to create one of the very best thrillers I've ever seen. I can't recommend it enough.