Review of Panic Room (2002) by Spangle — 17 Mar 2014

This one is pretty good. Overall, it does a good job of making you feel anxious as David Fincher does a great job creating suspense in this one. At every turn, there is yet another thing that makes that suspense build and build. Jodie Foster does a typically great job in the lead and I also found myself enjoying the performance of the three robbers; Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, and Dwight Yoakam. Each one really represented a different type of robber, with one filling the "lawful evil", "neutral evil", and "chaotic evil", respectively. It was interesting to see this kind of shared focus in this film between Foster and her daughter and then the three robbers as they try to figure their way out of the situation they find themselves in. Overall, this one is not too complex, but that is not problematic, as it is quite enjoyable.

My main complaint is concerned with the robbers. While I enjoyed watching them all fill the different roles of "evil", the film would have been better served if either A) we never saw the robbers' faces/heard them speak or B) they were all "chaotic evil". The added suspense from both of those options would have really elevated this one. Though, I am not complaining too much, because, as I said, I did enjoy the role to robbers played.