Review of Panic Room (2002) by Melvin W — 03 Nov 2011

Burnham: I spent the last 12 years of my life building rooms like this specifically to keep out people like us .

"It was supposed to be the safest room in the house.".

David Fincher has always and will always be a stylish director and that is one of the reason I love his movies. With Panic Room, he uses his style with a home invasion plot. The camera work is extraordinary, weaving the way from door to door and up and down stairs. This isn't Fincher's best work, but it is an extremely well-made and entertaining thriller.

A mother and daughter move into a new house. This house has a panic room in its master bedroom just incase a few burglars were to come into the house. Oh and what do you know, the first night they move in, there's a home invasion. What bad luck they have. The mother is played by Jodie Foster, who is never horrible, but has degrees of annoying to her performances. The daughter is played by a young Kristen Stewart. Both actresses are fine in their roles. Then there's the three burglars played by Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and Dwight Yoakham. .

Each criminal displays a rather familiar trait. There's Burnham; he is the guy who is there just because he needs the money. He is the type that doesn't want to hurt anyone because really he is just an average guy; his family just needs the money. He also has knowledge of the panic room because it is his job do design them. There's Junior; he is the mastermind of the whole operation. He is kind of in the middle when it comes to psycho. He doesn't go so far as to want to just kill everyone, but he does display maniac behavior at times. Last, but not least, there's Raoul; he is the crazy homicidal maniac, who wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. He doesn't care what he has to do, as long as he gets him money.

The plot isn't completely original with nothing surprising happening. In fact you'll be able to figure out what happens to all three criminals about ten minutes into the home invasion. There also are a number of plot holes that kind of annoyed me, but they weren't enough to take away from just how much fun I was having watching the film. The pacing is just right, moving at top speed at times and only slowing down for a few minutes at a time to allow the characters to catch their breath. This isn't up to the level of Seven or Fight Club, but still it shows that David Fincher just works on another level when it comes to thrillers.