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PANIC ROOM Send This Review to a Friend
If you pay attention early in "Panic Room" you'll know what's at the root of the mayhem to follow. But it doesn't much matter since before long the plot becomes clear in this rather conventional face-off between a woman trapped and the thugs who place her in danger. What the film, written by David Koepp and directed by David Fincher, does have going for it is Jodie Foster, whose acting is solid enough for one to become wrapped up in her character's wily efforts to outsmart the aggressors.
The set-up involves Meg Altman (Foster), in the throes of a divorce from her well-heeled husband, and their young daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart), who move into a huge newly-purchased brownstone on Manhattan's Upper West Side while daddy lives elsewhere with his new lady. The brownstone was formerly owned by a very wealthy man. It is equipped with a super-safe "panic room," into which one can retreat with sealed steel doors and safety gadgets that make the place supposedly impossible to penetrate. We know someone will try.
Mother and daughter settle in for a night's sleep, but three criminals who have their own agenda soon break into the place and the battle begins. Meg and Sarah are in perpetual danger, and the film descends into a lethal game of who can outwit whom. The intruding trio consists of an African-American named Burnham (Forest Whitaker), who is relatively decent, and two creeps, Raoul (Dwight Yoakam) and Junior (Jared Leto).
If this sort of thriller is your cup of fright, you may find it engrossing. But be aware that apart from what Foster can inject as an actress, it just another by-the-numbers exercise in suspense that has to come out all right in the end. A Columbia Pictures release.
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