Panic Room

Director: David Fincher

Cast: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam

Genre: Thriller

Year: 2002

In this Fincher film, he moves away from his previous gritty, ultra-violent movies such as 'Se7en' and 'Fight Club', yet instead goes for a unique fast paced thriller.


Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) is a single mum in New York who is searching for a new home for her daughter, Sarah Altman (a young Kristen Stewart) and herself. She finds the perfect house which seems almost too good to be true. One unique feature of this house is that it has a Panic Room, a secret, heavily secured room which can be used in an emergency when somebody must hide. It is inpenetrable with its thick steel walls as well as being technologically superior.
The night of Meg and Sarah's arrival, three robbers arrive- Junior (Jared Leto), Burnham (Forest Whitaker) and the enigmatic Raoul (Dwight Yoakam). What they are searching for is trapped within the Panic Room, alongside the confused and terrified Meg and Sarah.

The tension in this film rarely breaks. From the moment the thieves are revealed, the rest of the film has the audience at the edge of their seats as the robbers attempt to access the Panic Room by any way possible. Once one sequence of excitement ends, another one begins a few minutes later.
The story runs almost with parallel narratives: Meg and Sarah's attempts to contact somebody to rescue them and the robbers attempts to access the vault-like room. Meg and Sarah are almost oblivious to the robber's actions, save the several security cameras which offer minimal information about what is happening besides the whereabouts of the intruders. The robbers also soon become exasperated with trying to get in; their attempts soon go from peaceful to more life threatening. Feuds within their team arise as they become more desperate.

The acting is impressive all round. Kristen Stewart, although young, is convincing as the stereotypical teenager and Jodie Foster is decent as the anxious mother. Sometimes, their acting relies too much upon stereotypes, making things slightly more predictable.
The acting of the intruders is good. Leto is great as Junior who is desperate to access the Panic Room but also wants to stay superior above the other crooks he is with. Burnham is the brains of the mission- he is familiar with Panic Rooms and thinks more logically than everyone else. His character has interesting motives, especially since he is a pacifist which helps with some of his decision making. Raoul's character remains quite ambiguous for the majority of the film and his personality is rather emotionless. It ends up that Burnham's character becomes the most interesting out of all three of the thieves because of his mixed personality. He seems the most human out of all of them and the most relatable. His motive is understandable and during the third act, the audience can almost be sympathetic towards him.

The direction in this film is decent- Fincher does make a good film, but isn't working at his highest standard. There are some good shots, the best being used near the beginning which has the camera turn 90 degrees. This is a unique technique, but unfortunately, this is the peak of interesting camera work. CGI is used frequently to help manoeuvre the camera throughout the building. This helps with some interesting transitions and for a couple of scene, assists with the plot.

Some sequences feel a little predictable, but ultimately there is a lot of suspense held throughout the film making it a great example of a thriller. It isn't Fincher's finest work; however, it hardly is his worst.

Verdict: 7/10