Directed by:
David FincherScreenplay:
David KoeppComposer:
Howard ShoreCast:
Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam, Jared Leto, Patrick Bauchau, Ann Magnuson, Ian Buchanan, Andrew Kevin Walker, Paul Schulze (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
As David Fincher's PANIC ROOM begins, recently divorced Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) halfheartedly tours an old New York City townhouse with her restless young daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart). Using money from her divorce settlement, the unhappy mother decides to buy the spacious home. The former abode of a wealthy eccentric, this townhouse contains an unusual extra feature, a supposedly impenetrable "panic room" equipped with surveillance monitors, a separate phone line, and other survival aids, where residents can hide in case of emergency. When three men--Burnham (Forest Whitaker), Junior (Jared Leto), and Raoul (Dwight Yoakam)--break into their new home, Meg and Sarah end up using the panic room much sooner than they could have possibly imagined. And, unfortunately for them, these intruders are not simple burglars; they possess knowledge that makes the situation much more perilous. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (10)
The B-movie thriller Fincher originally had planned just didn't work out. He deliberately wanted to take a break from the demanding production of Fight Club with something completely genre-pure that takes place in one location. Instead, it turned out to be a 150-day long shoot and one with mainstream feminist milestones, which happened sort of unexpectedly out of the blue (the originally cast Nicole Kidman was supposed to be a classic Grace Kelly-style damsel in distress, and her teenage daughter actually took on the mothering role during the film; the script had to be rewritten after Jodie Foster was cast, because Foster is typecast as a completely different type of actress). In hindsight, it's the formal purity that is the most enjoyable part. While today's home invasion films try to convey the awkwardness of the protagonists' situation through handheld camerawork and quick editing, Fincher almost never uses handheld shots, doesn't pan and therefore doesn't move his gaze, and instead builds the entire film on the gimmick that the camera can be omnipresent, no one person controls it, and therefore we can expect practically anything from it. It's a bit of a shame that the direction then has to rely on a rather unimaginative script which really pulls the subplot out of its ass at the last minute, violently, and in short when another way for the main characters to save themselves comes after ninety minutes, but somehow goes wrong again, you start to wonder more and more if it even makes sense anymore, and with that parameter you find yourself nowhere you want to be nor where the film wants you to be.
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A suspenseful and novel plot. There is no Fincher's darkness this time, "only" a very solid thriller, spiced up with a few gimmicks (the camera passing through the ear of the teapot). Jodie Foster is great as always, and it’s nice to see Forest Whitaker again, even in a villain role, but with a good heart. It couldn’t have been any other way with him :)
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David Fincher's beloved toy for his entertainment, which raises credit in three aspects: the perfect atmosphere of constant unease in the house, from which the camera only emerges sporadically, the ambiguous character played by Forest Whitaker, about whom you cannot guess which side they are on until the last minute, and most importantly, Jodie Foster, who can play with surprising bravado the kinds of hysterical scenes most of her colleagues would break their teeth on. Because of her, those three stars are better, but it needed more twists and script ideas. As it is, the flyovers, details, and slow-motion shots get lost in their own purposelessness several times.
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First of all, I praise the great performance of Jodie Foster, who actually doesn't even need to heartbreakingly cry and wail to express her despair and stress, the look in her terrified eyes is enough. And Fincher's precise and, as always, brilliant direction orchestrates her acting and gives the film a typically dense and uncomfortable atmosphere that gradually builds up until it finally culminates in a powerful and unforgettable finale. I thought Panic Room would be a lot weaker than the best Fincher films, but I was wrong. This guy has done another great job. 90%
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Panic Room falls a little short against the rest of Mr. David Fincher's oeuvre. However, it’s still a gripping story with excellent cinematography, precise direction, well-developed characters, and an outstanding Jodie Foster who really acts like her life depended on it. As a genre flick, this is one of the better, if not the best, but as far as David Fincher is concerned, slightly above average. (Though he makes up for it with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).
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