Runtime: 111 minutes
Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, Dwight Yoakam
From: Columbia
I don't always love David Fincher movies but when one is worthwhile...
One day I will do a review or re-review of the Fincher films I don't like as that would be a better time to discuss why I don't swoon over every thing he does like most motion picture buffs do. At least I can say that Zodiac is very good and what happened to him with Alien 3 was a shame as no filmmaker deserved such treatment. Panic Room was actually something watched by me and a pal back in college around 18 years ago; all I remembered was that the pal was not a fan while my opinion was higher. Seeing that this was on HDNet Movies last night inspired me to finally give this a second viewing; thankfully my opinion of this: pretty good.
It has a simple premise of a single mother and young daughter moving into a New York City flat that has the title room. Soon thereafter a trio of unsophisticated thieves attempt to break into that panic room... where mom and daughter have already locked themselves in. Thankfully this isn't as rote or obvious as the scenario would suggest. A talented cast definitely helps... it took a long while after Twilight first came out to realize that it was Kristen Stewart who played Jodie Foster's daughter. The thieves are Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto-with cornrows!-& Dwight Yoakam; a twist is that they are rather lousy burglars who often bicker with each other. As I once saw discussed elsewhere, this is one of those films where you don't remember that Leto is in the cast; for some they forget most of his filmography. BTW, if you want to learn something new about Leto which has the potential to turn real bad-not to mention make the actor/musician appear to be even more rotten than someone who took his Joker role WAY too seriously, look up “Mars Island Cult” on Google...
Anyhow, the small cast was good overall, no matter if one has questionable real life behavior. There was flashy camera work at times although at least it did help establish the geography of the location; much of this is set in a flat that has several stories. Panic Room has a few twists which thankfully were not contrived or stupid. This is the least ambitious movie that Fincher has ever done yet the movie is still slick entertainment which has some laughs, thrills, drama (Stewart's character is a diabetic, after all), intensity, and a pair of LGBTQIA icons. Overall, this was a revisit that was not a waste of time.
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