Panic Room – Cinema

Dom Robinson reviews

Viewed at
UCI, Trafford Centre

• Cert:
• Running time: 112 minutes
• Year: 2002
• Released: 3rd May 2002
• Widescreen Ratio: 2.35:1
• Rating: 7/10

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Director:

David Fincher

(Alien 3, Fight Club, The Game, Seven, Panic Room)

Producers:

Cean Chaffin, Judy Hofflund, David Koepp and Gavin Polone

Screenplay:

David Koepp

Original Score :

Howard Shore

Cast :

Meg Altman: Jodie Foster
Sarah Altman: Kristen Stewart
Burnham: Forest Whitaker
Raoul: Dwight Yoakam
Junior: Jared Leto
Stephen Altman: Patrick Bauchau
Stephen’s girlfriend on phone: Nicole Kidman

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First things first. A Panic Room is a specially-designed room within a house in which you can lock yourself should intruders enter the premises. Styled like a nuclear bunker with 3-foot-thick steel walls, you can effectively seal yourself in and there’s zero chance of anyone actually breaking in to get at you. Coupled to this fact is an emergency phone on a separate connection from the main line and a bank of monitors, the cameras for which survey every inch of the house so there’s no hiding place for the uninvited guest(s).

On a tour round the new property, since her split from boffin husband Doctor Stephen Altman (Patrick Bauchau), Meg (Jodie Foster) is the first one to notice that amongst the massive house she’s taking a recce, the master bedroom is smaller than she expected. Once this has been spotted, the estate agent tells her she’s the first to notice without having to have it pointed out to her and, thus, reveals the aforementioned panic room. Of course, upon first glance, her pre-teen only daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) remarks on the whole kit and caboodle, “This has got to be my room!”

As (bad) luck would have it, they’ll find a use for that room on the very first night they spend there because three burglars have got their dates mixed up about when the house would be empty, but still they go ahead to take what they believe is theirs because there’s something they want that’s in the house.

Guess which room it’s in… and guess which one Meg and Sarah hole themselves up in?

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Meg and Sarah discover the
director was also responsible for Alien 3.

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It’s difficult to review a film like this and describe aspects of it in detail because while it’s bound to have its predictable moments and those which seem a bit on the cliched side, I can’t give examples as that would rob the point of finding these out for yourself, but it’s safe to say that it’s not just two hours of the two females sitting in the room while the three males stand outside it killing time.

What I can say is that the burglars are led by Junior (Jared Leto), who has a personal, vested interest in what’s locked away up there and he’s brought along Burnham (Forest Whitaker) because he used to install panic rooms for a living and, as such, knows that they’re impenetrable. Hence, leave it to mad foreigner Raoul (country singer Dwight Yoakam) to do his damnedest to find a way. Raoul’s an incredibly over-zealous and obtuse man and Burnham certainly doesn’t like him. It was Junior who brought him along and he’s proving to be more a hinderance than a help.

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Come out, come out, wherever you are…

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It’s a small cast and all the better for it since that does away with pointless tertiary characters who would normally pop up for a minute before going off camera. Jodie Foster puts across a good reliable performance in the lead role, but I was still at a loss as to why one woman with a child would need such a big house, even though money was no object since her divorce. Her role is complimented by newcomer Kristen Stewart as her daughter Sarah, even though she spend much of the film looking like Macaulay Culkin with a long fringe.

The burglars are all stereotypes but that doesn’t cause much of a problem as anyone trapped in the same tense situation for a few hours would hardly be expected to have a range of emotions – you’d have a single purpose in mind and would stick to it.

Of the rest of the cast, that leaves just Patrick Bauchau as Meg’s ex-husband Stephen who pops up just after halfway through the film and after having his face bashed in looks very reminiscent of Michael Gambon to these eyes.

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…and likewise.

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As I said earlier, I couldn’t divulge plot aspects that you’ll have to see for yourself when you watch it, but while there are a few predictable pieces, there’s also a fair number of slighty scary bits too – not such that you’d jump out of your skin, since you can see many of them coming, but the film expertly gives you that feeling like when you’re having a dream in which you can’t run away from an attacker and the deafening silence suffocates you… so it’s probably not a film for claustrophobics to watch in the cinema since there’s no escape.

I was impressed with the clever camerawork as it appears to spin round the house in an early scene letting you see all around as the two females sleep while the burglars break in. Director David Fincher certainly gives the film a flashy visual touch, but I would’ve liked to have seen more of this kind of thing, even if it would’ve brought it down to the level of a pop video.

Before I close this review, a special mention must go to the striking, but bizarre, opening credits, all of which are placed static in Copperplate Gothic Bold font against the backdrop of the city landscape and town buildings. Never heard of Copperplate Gothic Bold font? See the logo atop this review. Now you have.

Film trivia: If you’re wondering who played the uncredited cameo voice of “Stephen’s girlfriend on phone”, it’s Nicole Kidman, originally slated to star in Jodie Foster’s role but pulled out because she hurt her knee whilst filming Moulin Rouge; and I’m glad because Ms. Kidman couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag.

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002.

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