Panic Room

Released 2002
Stars Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam, Jared Leto, Kristen Stewart, Patrick Bauchau
Directed by David Fincher

The premise is simple enough, and the kind of idea Hitchcock would have enjoyed toying with. Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) is recently divorced from her millionaire ex-husband, Stephan (Patrick Bauchau). Alone with her daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart), she moves into a large Brownstone in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It's an amazing place, with spacious rooms, and elevator, and, most interestingly, a "panic room". Designed to keep out intruders, the small chamber is protected by steel-plated walls, ceiling, and floor, and a door that is close to impervious. The panic room has its own ventilation system, a telephone line that isn't connected to the house's main one, and a bank of video cameras that show virtually every corner of the brownstone.

On the night that Meg and Sarah move in, they find themselves locked in the panic room in an attempt to escape a trio of threatening men who break into their house. Burnham (Forest Whitaker), Junior (Jared Leto), and Raoul (Dwight Yoakam) have come to steal something specific. Unfortunately, what they want is locked in the panic room with Meg and her daughter. Thus begin the games as the robbers seek to smoke out the victims. And things become further complicated when Burnham, Junior, and Raoul realize that there truly is no such thing as honor amongst thieves.

Summary by James Berardinelli

From the trailer, I thought this was going to be an insulting, insipid film, but I was way wrong. It's an intelligent thriller with style coming out of its ears. I'm not surprised after finding out it was directed by David Fincher, who also directed "Seven" and "Fight Club." He's an exciting director in a low-key manner, whose camera is restless and languid at the same time. There are shots that take us from a third-floor bedroom down past the second-floor to the first floor while rotating. Then it travels through countertops and over furniture, and I was left watching in awe. It was quite amazing, and he also had a good story to tell.

The story keeps the contrivances to a minimum, but we have to expect some in a thriller. Here we have the diabetic daughter who needs her insulin, a phone line that wasn't connected yet, etc., but overall they're pretty minor. The story uses the Raoul character effectively to ratchet up the tension. The other two thieves want the money, but they don't want to hurt anyone. Raoul, on the other hand, is itching to hurt someone. We don't know if the little doggie's all bark, or if he's gonna bite. When he shoots his partner, Junior, we know. At this point, the stakes are raised considerably, and we know it's life and death. The plot has one big twist, which works very well. It's the reversal when the robbers switch places with Meg. My favorite part of this switch was Raoul catching his hand in the panic room's door. I loved it, and I smiled later when he picked up his severed fingers. It was well-deserved and satisfying.

Every thriller comes down to its ending, and the ending here is ok. It's not horrible, but it could have been better. There was no need for Raoul to be the dead bad guy who's not really dead, and we didn't need Burnham coming back to stop him. It was also silly for the SWAT team to show up. Why'd they show up anyway? There was the scene with Meg talking to the police at the front door, which I found mildly irritating. She knew they couldn't hear her, and she could have easily told them what was happening. The cop could tell something was wrong despite her protests, and the police later responded with SWAT. I doubt that would have happened, but there's a really good shot in this scene. During most of it, we look from Meg's perspective toward the policemen. We hear her pretending that she just woke up, and she sounds convincing. So why does the cop keep pressing? He tells her that she looks tense, but we don't see her face for a few minutes. Eventually we do see it, and it's Jodie's best moment in the movie. She's trying to project a calm, casual attitude, but her face looks like she's sitting on a box of dynamite with the fuses lit. It's a small moment, but it helps sell the ending. --Bill Alward, January 14, 2003