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Visitors Review

Ninja12 2012-05-24 23:33:22

Watch this movie and see why david fincher is my favorite director

This movie is a work of art, simple and elegant. The camera angles causeyou to look at things differently, the movie is complete in everyway.Therewere a few times that the cgi sweeping camera was overused, but that ismyonly complaint. I missed this movie when it was in the theaters and Itooka risk by purchasing the dvd without seeing it first and I am so gladthat Idid. This is a excellent movie, it's hard to put into words how much Ienjoyed it, I just sat in awe of how it flowed and progressed.Definitelyone of my very top movies, and proud to have it in my collection. I wasalso impressed with the acting especially that of Dwight Yoakam, verysurprising. 10/10

Rachel C 2012-05-24 10:08:19

Panic Room

"Panic Room" was another excellent movie with Kristen Stewart. Jodie Foster and all the other actors were all outstanding in the movie. The suspense was astonishing, too. Excellent movie!

clover27 2012-05-24 08:40:14

Pleasantly Surprised

I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed Panic Room. Having seen thetrailer beforehand, and being put off by its overbaring noir-ish tone, Inearly didn't go. However, being a fan of director David Fincher (and aneven bigger fan of his last directorial effort, 'Fight Club') I decided tocheck it out. I'm glad I did. Jodie Foster gives an excellent performance as beleaguered mother MegAltman, and newcomer Kristen Stewart is wonderful as Meg's daughter, Sarah. Forest Whitaker delivers a solid performance as Burnham, the burglar with aconscience, as does Jared Leto as the cocky young Junior.Panic Room is an effectively thrilling ride of a movie, utilizing someexcellent performances, fantastic camera work, awesome special effects andan almost water-tight script. It's a much-abused cliche when discussingmovies within its genre, but Panic Room really does leave you on the edge ofyour seat for the majority of its 112 minutes. My only real complaints with the film are uneven performances by two ofthe actors. Patrick Bauchau who plays Stephen Altman, the ex-husband ofJodie Foster's Meg Altman does not imbue his character with any sort ofpersonality whatsoever, and as a result his character comes across as flatand one dimensional. Maybe it's partially because the Stephen Altmancharacter is not (physically) introduced until around halfway through thefilm, but we are not really given any idea of what sort of character he is. (And consequently, you don't really care what happens to him.) DwightYokam's portrayal of Raoul, one of the burglars, seems to be a'paint-by-numbers thug' role. He does no favours (to either movie oraudience) by playing it as such. These instances where there is definitelack of character development are minor blemishes on what is ultimately aneffective and engrossing thriller. Watch out for a cameo by ‘Seven' scribe Andrew Kevin Walker as a cluelessneighbour and a (vocal) cameo by Nicole Kidman as Stephen Altman's bitchygirlfriend. I'd recommend Panic Room as a good thriller movie - but ifyou're squeamish, you might be best to wait for this one on video so you canskip the yucky bits. ;)9 out of 10.

Olivia S. 2012-05-24 04:03:21

Inticing

With the current standards for film, this is very impressive. I saw thescreening last night 3-29-02 and I have to day, I was on the edge of myseatthe entire time. It gives me butterflies in my stomach thinking about it.Now, for those of you who get anxious easily, take caution...for those whodon't, you will. The entire movie is a strong build up to a climax.However, at one point in time, when it builds up so much and you are surethat there is so much suspense that something is bound to happen, blackscreen and another shot. Believe me, you won't guess which climax it isuntil you are done with the movie, that's how many there are. A very wellchosen cast, the performances were above average...Now, I have to say thatthe coolest part about the entire movie are the camera angles. Such wideand continuous sweeps are unorthidox and make the movie seem cutting edge,though we know we are capable of much more. From cameras in coffee potstocracks in the walls to the typical camera in the lock routine, it's allblended together in a concoction of mystery. Though it's atempts atcomedyare somewhat mislead, the intent was good, and the over all movie wasexcellent.NOT a movie to take a kid to see...some scenes are made twice as creepywiththe sound effects (ie: when large objects are used as weapons, at impact,someone breaks a carrot, creating a sickening feeling in the gut of theviewer from their thoughts on how bad the damage done was.), also, like Ihave stated, it is very suspenseful. When I had my daughter, I startedcontractions in Hannibal, this movie would certainly measure up in "boo"scare.All in all, a very good movie.

Movie-Guru 2012-05-21 06:38:35

Edge of your seat thriller/drama!

I never liked Jodie Foster, in fact the only movie of hers that I everenjoyed was "Contact" (1997), and when walking into the theatre to see"Panic Room" I wasn't expecting much from her, but I knew that "Fight Club"director David Fincher was behind the camera and I had a feeling it would begood. Panic Room opens up introducing divorcee Jodie Foster and herdaugther (whos father is rich, and is the only reason why Foster's charactercan afford such an expensive Brownstone, if it weren't for the daughter,Foster would most likeley be living in some cheap 2-bedroom apartment)andthey move into a new home. The pacing picks up pretty quick and I enjoyedthe camera angles and close ups and zoom-ins on such things as a key lockand a ventilationg system. The acting is top-notch for acrime/thriller/drama and Whittaker as the wise yet determined criminal, wasperfect for this role. I give Panic Room 3 1/2 stars out of4.Another one minor note, Nicole Kidman was originally going to play Foster'spart and THANK GOD she didn't ( I dispise Kidman) though she does make avoice cameo.

zleepy2000 2012-05-20 20:14:57

Suspenseful Thriller

Even with its rather simple plot David Fincher achieves making Panic Room asuspenseful thriller, which keeps you on the edge of your seat throughoutthe movie. Once started, it never slows down. Fincher uses the camerasuperbly and it certainly has excellent and memorable scenes, not onlybecause of the camerawork, but also from the great acting by Jodie Fosterand Dwight Yoakam who plays the extreme psychopath. The movie is quiteclaustrophobic since it takes place in a rather creepy house. Even though itdoesn't live up to Finhcer's previous films, such as Se7en and Fight Club, Idon't mind he's taking a break from his quite complex movies, e.g. The Game,he just prooved that that's not all he does. In overall it's a splendidmovie, definitely worth watching.8 out of 10

2012-05-16 20:06:41

Scary stuff!

Fans who were disappointed by the filmed adaptation of the novel Sliver will find much recompense in this taut Ira Levinesque thriller. Jodie Foster (at her most assured and compelling in years) plays a newly divorced mother (to Kristen Stewart) who buys a new Manhattan home based on its spacious rooms, many floors and a nifty bedroom feature: a completely secure, foolproof panic room, designed in case of emergencies like burglaries and the like. Foster dismisses the room as a useless novelty, the product of the corrupted mind of the paranoid millionaire who owned the home before she did. Unfortunately, her sentiments obviously fall on deaf karma, since on the very night of her moving in a trio of robbers (Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam) break in to her house, thinking the place still empty. Now, mother and daughter are trapped in a well-equipped but tiny little space with no way of escape, hoping that the gentlemen will just take what they want and leave. However, what they want turns out to be in that very room, and just because it's impossible to enter it doesn't mean the bad guys won't try. Tight as all hell, the film is about as scary as any film you'll ever see, directed with incredible precision by crafty David Fincher (The Game, Fight Club), who just seems to be getting better and better at this kind of film every time he tries it. Gorgeously shot by both Conrad L. Hall and Darius Khondji (who was fired during the shoot for having a level of perfectionism that made the film run way over schedule, which in turn was getting in the way of pregnant Foster's growing belly), the film was written by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Death Becomes Her), and is safely acknowledgeable as his best script to date. The lead role was originally to be played by Nicole Kidman, who thanks to an injury she sustained while filming Moulin Rouge was unable to fulfill her commitment to this film, prompting Foster to drop out of her duties as president of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival Jury at last minute's notice and take over the role (Liv Ullmann later took Foster's position at Cannes and Foster made a small presentation during the Cannes Award ceremonies). Kidman's voice makes a tiny cameo as the voice of Foster's ex-husband's new wife.

Mark David! 2012-05-16 05:36:01

Excellent yet misplaced cast - subpar movie.

First off, I can't understand how Foster would turn down the reprisingroleof Clarice in a sure to be hit "Hannibal" and then accept the role forthissleeper. Of course, "Hannibal" was not a hit, which I think the poorturnouthad a lot to do with her not taking on the role.But anyway, the premise for this movie about a separated mother and herdiabetic teen daughter being terrorized by would be thieves, probablywouldhave been better suited for more up and coming younger actors than thesuperstars Foster and Whittaker. If they used younger stars (like thoseofthe teen thrillers), it probably would have done better. Adding FosterandWhittaker immediately placed the film into a more adult market, and thismaybe why it didn't do so well. I could see Leto and the surprisinglytalentednewcomer Kristen Stewart in their roles, but Foster and Whittaker seemedoutof place.The movie is rather slow at times to be a thriller and I caught myselfdozing at various points. Foster just goes thru the motions of thescript,and never convinces me that this role was no more than just some quickpocket cash. Whittaker is pretty good as the tough but compassionateleadthief, and I would like to see him in more "bad guy" type roles, but it'sstill not a type of movie I expect to see him in. Leto is very good asthehotheaded young "rookie" thief, and newcomer Kristen Stewart did the bestacting job - from being the sassy teen to the near death diabeticteen.Overall, to me, the best part of the film is the cool style in which theopening credits were displayed. After that, it just cruised along in slowmotion without really causing even a stir, yet alone "panic". This is a$1.00 show movie, or wait for the 5 day rental stickers to appear at thevideo store. 4 out of 10.

jackass14 2012-05-11 22:28:59

Held my attention for nearly 2 hours!

First let me echo the comment about the wicked-cool opening credits.Something I've never seen before but will probably be used in many moviestocome.The movie was paced well, like the headline says I never even looked at mywatch, a rare occurrence for me. It is a good movie to take you away foracouple hours, as there are few moments where you are not anticipating thenext move by the girls or the boys. Unfortunately a healthy handful ofthose moves are fairly predictable, as with most suspense/thrillers thesedays. The R rating is almost not needed, although a couple of shots aresomewhat graphic and Jodie Foster uses the F word. At least the idea isoriginal, hats off to Koepp for that.

boonedoggle 2012-05-11 11:27:11

Disappointingly Overrated

I just got back from watching the Panic Room...and I must say, this movieisHIGHLY overrated. My wife liked it, but being in the business I could seethe poor story flow and the incredibly unbelievable character actions andreactions within the movie. That made me, as a single person of theaudience, root for the "bad guys". I won't say much else about it...youmaylike it, you may not like it...personally, I don't think it was as scaryasmade out to believe, but you'll have to go see it for yourself to decideifyou like it or not.

CabbyG3 2012-05-10 15:13:44

WTF?

Contains SpoilerWhat the f*ck? I was liking this movie until the end. Then they ruined itand exposed every little flaw for scrutiny. I don't care how talenteddavidfincher is, what was he thinking? SPOILER--- there is more thingsinteresting about Forrest Whitaker's character than the main two girls.Theending leaves me wondering what happened to this likeable character whoobviously has backstory introduced. They focus on the wrong characters,havethe wrong ending (no alternate?!) and basically ruin the whole premise bymaking it all a pointless endeavor and leaving us all wondering what thef*ck that was all about if not about Forrest. I guarandamntee you thattheending will leave you wondering, "WTF?!" I saw this movie for DavidFincher's sake and because I believed Foster can act. Trusting in them ismisplaced, THEY did great, their project sucked. WTF was Jared Letothinkingtryign to be anything other than VERY white? WHAT.... THE....F*CK!

2012-05-10 03:01:09

Disappointing

The movie starts interesting but but a couple of mistakes make it sense-less. I was very disappointed. Do not buy. My advice is rent it. That way you will only spend (...) instead of (...) on a movie you probably won't care to see again.

2012-05-07 12:58:32

it's a dog!

Should be 45 minutes shorter, and would be more believable if the characters weren't such fools. Screen an old Hitchcock film instead.

Nick Rogers 2012-05-07 04:14:10

Valuing logic over brutality, David Fincher's claustrophobic ride also touted the real-world practicality of keeping quiet over the cinematic kicks of a loud thriller. It's like "Wait Until Dark" with helplessness that's emotional, not just physical.

William Arnold 2012-05-03 15:07:41

It all comes together to be a suspenseful ride.

mattkratz 2012-05-03 07:56:49

good suspense

This was one of the most suspenseful movies I have seen in years. Most (atleast 99%) of the movie takes place in a house that has a panic room in itwhere you can hide from burglars. Jodie Foster and her daughter take refugein it when Forest Whittaker and company break into the house. They spend therest of the film trying to outwit each other. I liked themovie.*** out of ****

thechidz 2012-05-02 00:30:22

Help! I'm trapped in a room with Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster (is she ... isn't she?) and her ill daughter end up lockedin a concrete room after the guy from American Psycho (not Pat Bateman,the other guy who looks like Pat Bateman) and a guy with a weird eyebreak into their house looking for money.The rest of the film involves her being out of the room, then in itagain, then out of it again, then the robbers being in the room, thenthem all being out of the room at the same time as each other.I quite enjoyed this movie because I like films where reasonablyattractive women spend their time being either inside or outside ofconcrete rooms. As you can imagine, this leaves me plenty of time topursue other hobbies.

2012-05-01 15:41:14

simply God-awful

What a waste of an accomplished actress in Jodie Foster... None of the characters were particularly believable, and all of them were ridiculously predictable. The same could be said for this film; just by-the-numbers, lowest-common-denominator Hollywood pulp. It might also help if the actress who plays Foster's daughter had an actual pulse, too. Can't believe this is the same Fincher who made "Fight Club." What happened, has he had a lobotomy recently?

2012-04-30 04:28:07

An intense, suspensful thriller

The Egyptian pharaohs had it right all along; the only way to make your sanctuary, your abode of eternal rest, your panic room truly impregnable and safe is to kill the guys who build it as soon as the job is done. Of course, you can't go around killing construction and security people willy-nilly, and that leads to the kind of situation we find in this movie. When the newly-divorced and emotionally scarred Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) manage to barricade themselves inside their new home's super-nifty panic room, they think they are safe from the three guys who have broken into the house. They are wrong. The paranoid, rich, recently deceased guy who owned the home before the Altmens had millions of dollars hidden inside a safe in that very panic room; these guys know it, and one of them helped build the darn panic room and safe himself. So begins a standoff that never flags in intensity or leaves the viewer more than a few precious seconds in which to come up for air. Meg, despite her claustrophobic tendencies, proves herself to be quite the clever survivor, engaging the bad guys in a mental chess game of ingenuity, desperation, and the type of bravery that can only come from a parent's instinctual necessity to protect his/her child. It's strange to think that Nicole Kidman was cast to play the role of Meg, bowing out a week or so into the project as a result of some type of injury. As with any Jodie Foster role, I can't imagine anyone else playing this main character. I love Nicole Kidman to death, but I think Jodie was much better suited for the part of Meg. Of course, Jodie can't do everything herself; the movie's overall effectiveness also hinges on the performance of the three bad guys. Jared Leto is quite good in a weasel sort of way, but Dwight Yoakam was quite unconvincing as the cold and hard "Raoul." Luckily, Forest Whitaker more than takes up the slack to give a performance worthy of a Jodie Foster film. He is the proverbial criminal with a conscience, and he plays the role extremely well, thereby churning up some additional emotions and feelings in the audience, creating more conflict in one's hopes of final resolution, and ensuring that the audience remains mesmerized in front of the screen until the credits roll.The DVD heralds itself as a Superbit DVD, which means it optimizes sound and video at a much more impressive level than normal DVDs. I suppose this only adds to the effectiveness of the unusual camera angles and long camera pans moving from one story of the building to the others in long continuous shots. I'm just a regular movie watcher, though, so I can't tell much difference in Superbit vs. regular DVDs. I do know, albeit rather vaguely, that the Superbit technology works by using extra layers of the DVD to encode more technological whatsits and wossnames, extra layers that are often used for such things as extra features. This helps explain why Panic Room comes with virtually no special features at all, only a trailer for the movie and short filmographies of a few of the actors and filmmakers. Personally, I'd rather have a commentary and miscellaneous goodies. Ultimately, though, this movie is so good that it's really all you need to make you happy. Panic Room is a suspenseful thriller, but it really doesn't make any effort to scare the audience, making this a movie that all sorts of fans can marvel at and enjoy.

lwang 2012-04-29 15:57:19

Light on Suspense

When the movie came out, I was rolling my eyes thinking how could they makea movie like this. Two hours about being stuck in a room that isimpenetrable, how much excitement could there be? But figuring DavidFincher is going to direct it, I thought he might be able to make somethingout of it.The movie had the usual Fincher touches from Fight Club, and there were afew scenes where I could feel my heart beating. But I could not say thesuspense held on long enough for it to be fully effective. It was basicallymany short break-out/break-in attempts in between rest periods. But therest periods were not like a commercial break, since there were still afeeling of despair during those time. Also, I guess the writers threw inthe diabetic daughter so that it would not just be a sleep-through for thewomen trapped in the safe roomThere were more than once where I keep thinking why those men did or did notdo such and such (like take out the cameras or make a story up about gettingaccess to the safe), I shouldn't have to come to those thoughts, especiallywhen there are three of them there with at least one that has a brain. Evena thing or two that Jodie Foster's character did came into doubt in my mind. She could have bluffed about calling the police with a cell phone she hadwhen they showed that they cut the phone line.It comes down to the weakness of the script. Lack of events to allow thedirector to do his stuff.Still, a decent movie.