Panic Room
Year: 2002
Director: David Fincher
Starring: Jodie Foster, Jared Leto, Kristen Stewart & Forrest Whittaker
Runtime: 112 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 22/02/23
Director: David Fincher
Starring: Jodie Foster, Jared Leto, Kristen Stewart & Forrest Whittaker
Runtime: 112 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 22/02/23
“That’s seven years bad luck.”
During the nineties, David Fincher made four films that were generally mixed in quality. Alien 3 was a mess, though the damage was done by Fox rather than Fincher himself; Se7en established Fincher as a director who could deliver genre defining films that not only packed a punch with its story but also with its presentation; The Game felt like a step back with its more conventional approach but still found appeal (though has been largely forgotten to time); and then Fight Club shocked audiences the world over and despite not performing particularly well at the box office has since gone on to become one of the most beloved films of the twentieth century. So how would Fincher start off the new millennium? Would it be by continuing his upward trajectory, or would he once again stumble?
Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) has recently divorced her husband, Stephen (Patrick Bauchau), and has purchased a house on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for her and her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart). One unique selling point of the house is the panic room located in the master bedroom, an impenetrable fortress that has CCTV coverage of the entire house, as well as a separate phoneline to contact the outside. It doesn’t take long for thieves to target the property, and Mag must use the panic room to outsmart and negotiate with the intruders.
Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) has recently divorced her husband, Stephen (Patrick Bauchau), and has purchased a house on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for her and her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart). One unique selling point of the house is the panic room located in the master bedroom, an impenetrable fortress that has CCTV coverage of the entire house, as well as a separate phoneline to contact the outside. It doesn’t take long for thieves to target the property, and Mag must use the panic room to outsmart and negotiate with the intruders.
I remember a lot of fanfare about Panic Room in the early 00’s and I think a lot of that came down to Jodie Foster being the leading lady. If hype were to be believe then Panic Room was the quintessential thriller of the early 00’s, but the reality is that Panic Room amounts to little more than a run of the mill home invasion flick with a gimmick at its core. Whoever is in the panic room is in control of the situation thanks to the CCTV and a PA system, and so despite being the victim Meg is actually the one holding all the power once she locks herself and Sarah away in there because she is able to see everything the intruders are doing; similarly, when the power dynamic eventually changes with the intruders in the room and Meg locked out, they are able to stop her from running to get help. On paper it sounds great, in practice it’s actually kind of tedious and uninspired. For all of the great things Fincher could have done with the premise of this film, it instead boils down to people not taking action on their situation because they’re being watched. The finale of the film feels completely contrived too as a series of coincidences perfectly align to ensure that Meg and Sarah get the upper hand.
The story is certainly not the strongest part of Panic Room, but what it is good for, at least in context of my retrospective review series, is seeing Fincher’s signature directorial style flourish for the first time. Panic Room is arguably the first film Fincher’s signature style really flourishes, most notably with the slick and precise camera movements combined with CGI to create some truly spectacular tracking shots. Along with some clever editing, Panic Room does look pretty great, but that’s unfortunately the only thing that’s really going for it because the performances are not anything to write home about.
The story is certainly not the strongest part of Panic Room, but what it is good for, at least in context of my retrospective review series, is seeing Fincher’s signature directorial style flourish for the first time. Panic Room is arguably the first film Fincher’s signature style really flourishes, most notably with the slick and precise camera movements combined with CGI to create some truly spectacular tracking shots. Along with some clever editing, Panic Room does look pretty great, but that’s unfortunately the only thing that’s really going for it because the performances are not anything to write home about.
I’m not the biggest Jodie Foster fan as it is, but I’d argue that Panic Room is one of her weakest films as she feels like she’s phoning the whole thing in. Her dialogue delivery is flat, she lacks the physicality necessary for the role, and she just doesn’t look particularly interested a lot of the time. Forrest Whittaker does his best to carry the film on his shoulders, but he’s fighting a losing battle as the script really was not in his favour, and his character lacks any kind of depth.
Interestingly this is probably one of Jared Leto’s best performances, but that’s not saying an awful lot because he’s still overacting the hell out of it feels like he’d be better suited in a Home Alone film than a serious adult thriller.
For me, Panic Room may be Fincher’s weakest film. Whilst it’s great to see his vision for incredible camerawork finally coming to fruition, the rest of the film simply doesn’t try particularly hard to make me care enough. There are better home invasion films out there, especially from around the same era, and it makes me wonder why I’d bother watching it again. There’s a reason why this is the film of Fincher’s I’ve watched the least, and it’s because it feels so uninspired and by the numbers.
Interestingly this is probably one of Jared Leto’s best performances, but that’s not saying an awful lot because he’s still overacting the hell out of it feels like he’d be better suited in a Home Alone film than a serious adult thriller.
For me, Panic Room may be Fincher’s weakest film. Whilst it’s great to see his vision for incredible camerawork finally coming to fruition, the rest of the film simply doesn’t try particularly hard to make me care enough. There are better home invasion films out there, especially from around the same era, and it makes me wonder why I’d bother watching it again. There’s a reason why this is the film of Fincher’s I’ve watched the least, and it’s because it feels so uninspired and by the numbers.