Customer Reviews
great setting and scenario, but executed poorly - By: Stampy, 01 Jun 2008 
Jodie Foster (Silence of the lambs) stars in David Fincher's claustrophobic thriller as Meg, a mother who, along with her daughter Sarah, get trapped inside a panic room whilst robbers invade their house.
I'm a big fan of the claustrophobic thriller genre, having scene great films like Air force one & Die Hard, which are both set in just the one main place are excellent viewing & very gripping. This 2002 picture is fairly exciting, but doesn't match the excitement of those other thrillers.
Taking a while to get going, Panic room centres around, well a panic room in Meg's new house. The setting is very cold, with horrible grey wallls & little supplies to get a feel of claustrophobia. Though the setting is there, by the end of the film I felt it could have been executed so much better, as could have the performances.
By far the worst performances I have seen Foster & Whitaker (Last King of Scotland) give in their careers, though in fairness, it does come down to a poorly scripted plot.
The dialogue between alll the characters is so poor I wanted to rewrite it for myself. Given the intense situations encoded, there could have been much sharper & intense speaking involved giving a feel of the emotional & stressful situations that the characters found themselves in.
Fincher's direction is very bizarre, with one shot trailing from floor to floor I was wondering what mood he was trying to achieve by using that particular shot. Though it improved, his other films including fight club were so much better.
Despite its faults, I still couldn't tear myself away with the situations & settings the best bits of the film
The situations are excellent as is the setting but had there been a better written plot & more intense dialogue, it would have been up there with the best thrillers, but unfortunately it isn't & only makes it into the mediocre category
7/10
Impressive movie, warning about packaging - By: Mr. R. Khanmohamed, 29 Feb 2008 I've heard rave reviews of this movie from here & others so decided to buy it, & it definately is an impressive move.
Word of warning, the packaging looks nothing like the pictures amazon uses, it's just the 3 disks in a plastic case like any other dvd, so don't buy it assuming you'll get the fold out version because you'll be dissapointed. not returning as it's opened now.
HOME ALONE WITH GUNS - By: Nevs, 27 Sep 2007 The idea was there but the story was PANTS.
Americans have a panic room (i wish i had room for another bedroom) which is a windowless, steel doored room which you hide in when burglars get into your house. We have one at home, callled a shed !!
Jodie gets broken into & guess where she goes? Yep, into the old Panic room with her daughter. The brainless gang of intruders seek to ferret her out by pulling the light switch off & yelling at her.
Watch it but don't cancel any other plans.
A pale imitation of Hitchcock - By: Mike London, 26 Sep 2007 
There are some movies that when you watch them they feel like they were just thrown together for a thrill ride. Jurassic Park III is a perfect example of this. It's like the screenwriters said, "Hey, lets throw alll these characters on an island filled with dinosaurs for about an hour & a half & watch them struggle to survive, & then lets get them out so we can do another sequel." Good character development is thrown out the window because they just want plot.
Panic Room is much the same way. The story is very simple. A mother & daughter buy a new house because Daddy decided to get a new woman. The realtor shows them the house, familirizing the viewer with the layout, gives a brief history of the panic room, which is designed to protect the house's residents in case of a burglary by encasing them in an impenetrable room. The house is on the market because a rich man had just died.
The mother & daughter buy it, & the first night there three burglars enter the house to get money in the panic room. The women get into the room. The rest of the film is much like a chess game, with the rules clearly established. Who wins depends on who has the best strategy.
Panic Room shares the same flaw of Jurassic Park III. While Panic Room does much better than Jurassic Park III, it still feels just like an excuse to see these characters thrown into a thriller where they have to survive. The characters are not established as real people you reallly want to get to know but just a vehicle for the plot.
Overalll, Panic Room lacks those qualities that made Hitchcock's films so memorable. In Hitchcock, his characters never feel like just an tool to move a plot. The plots themselves are ingeniously drawn, & the endings both shock & tantalize the viewer by tying up the plot into a neat package. Best of alll, his characters are both convincing & legitimate.
The best asset of Panic Room is Forest Whitaker, the most sympatheticallly drawn character in the entire movie. He is the only one that feels like a real person instead of just one more plot device. Had they done the other characters like his character, they would have both the suspense & the right character development to make a truly effective thriller.
As it stands, Panic Room is a film that once you see it, there's nothing to go back too. You can always go back to a Hitchcock film.
April 18, 2002
Weak Story but Well Directed - By: Jay, 12 Jul 2007 
David Fincher has never disappointed me - every movie right from "Alien 3" & "The Game" to the more newer "Seven" & "Fight Club" have been excellently directed. I love this guy's vision & sense of direction. Photography is phenomenal. The flipside is that the story is not too much.... but this is where the director's talent comes through. I strongly recommend people to watch this movie.Jodie is fascinating as always.
