The Panic Room Review
by Aleksandar Zambelli (IHATESPAMzambelli AT posluh DOT hr)April 3rd, 2002
Movie Review:
"Panic Room"
Copyright (c) 2002 Aleksandar Zambelli
Originally published in The Crimson, a Florida Tech student-run
publication.
Genre: thriller
Directed by David Fincher
Starring Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker
Hollywood, as most of the movies coming out of it seem to present it, is the factory of recycled trash aimed at the viewer/consumer. True or false, it is really not the important issue here. What most people fail to realize is that Hollywood is also a big bag of money. And as such, it is a necessary evil for all those ambitious filmmakers who dream big ideas. Just like in the past Hollywood was the playground for the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, John Ford and the recently deceased Billy Wilder, the situation today is no different. All of you who bear little hope for modern film should know that there is a group of young current-day directors who make good use of the Hollywood system. Tim Burton ("Sleepy Hollow"), M. Night Shyamalan ("Sixth Sense"), Wes Anderson ("Rushmore") and many others prove that quality films can be made in Hollywood, but no one makes better use of the system then David Fincher, who has struck gold with three of his last films - "Fight Club," "The Game" and "Se7en." Actually, now make that four.
"Panic Room" doesn't rely on complex plots like previous Fincher's movies did. Its setup is quite simple. A recently divorced woman, Meg Altman (Jodie Foster - "Silence of the Lambs"), looks for a house in New York City to move in with her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart). Right away she finds a house that seems perfect: a huge four-story house in Manhattan whose previous owner just recently died, making the house available on the market. The house has a very special feature: on the third floor there is a "panic room" - a completely isolated and fortified room with its own phone, video monitoring system, air supply, and enough food and drink to last a long time. Naturally, Meg loves the house and decides to buy it. During the first night of their stay, the house is burglarized by three men - Burnham (Forest Whitaker - "Ghost Dog," "The Crying Game"), Junior (Jared Leto - "American Psycho") and Raoul (Dwight Yoakam - "The Newton Boys"). Meg and Sarah lock themselves up in the panic room, but that only creates more trouble. Whatever it is that the burglars are after seems to be located in the panic room. Since the women have seen the burglars' faces, their lives are threatened if they leave the panic room. And thus we have a situation which can't be ended with a tie; an endgame on a chessboard.
Hitchcock became known in the film world for being a master of suspense and being an innovative filmmaker (remember the "Psycho" shower scene or the "Vertigo" rooftop scene). Fincher possesses the same qualities. His camerawork is mesmerizing. He brings the camera to life, taking it to places where it's never been before. The camera floats around the house, glides around the kitchen utensils, whizzes through keyholes and penetrates through walls and floors. And yet, he does all this so skillfully that he never takes your attention away from the action.
Writer David Koepp's ("Mission: Impossible," "Stir of Echoes") screenplay has very few plot holes and Fincher makes sure everything fits realistically into its place. He pays a great deal of attention to details. Not all plans conceived by the characters are immediately successful; it's very much a process of trial and error. The characters think like the audience thinks. Compared to garbage like "The Time Machine," the screenplay for "Panic Room" is virtually flawless.
Much of the suspense comes from the relationships between characters. We find out that Burnham is the guy who built the panic room and is therefore the brains of the operation. Junior is the one who came up with the idea and made it possible. Raoul, however, is the X factor. The only man of the three with a gun, he's a loaded gun himself and a threat to everyone around him. Who will turn out to be expendable? The movie is not just a simple game of cat and mouse, because there is more than one cat and the cats don't like each other any more than they like the mouse. The suspense is carefully built by the screenwriter and director, but also aided by Howard Shore's musical score.
David Fincher fans should not be disappointed coming out of "Panic Room." It might not have the complexity of Fincher's previous films, but it is a good and skillfully executed movie that proves Fincher is one of the best Hollywood directors today. On a side note: Stanley Kubrick fans will surely find the movie's finale an interesting tribute to Kubrick's 1956 thriller "The Killing." Those unfamiliar with Fincher's works will enjoy the movie on its own. Although only three months into 2002, it's fairly safe to say that "Panic Room" is the best thriller of the year so far.
Score: 8/10
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