Panic Room poster & wallpaper

Dwight Yoakam, Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto

After purchasing a brownstone in New York, a thirty-something divorced woman and her daughter are forced to take advantage of the hidden room - the "panic room" - when intruders break into their home.

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61% liked it

135,127 ratings

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77% liked it

165 critics

R, 1 hr. 41 min.

Directed by: David Fincher

Release Date: March 29, 2002

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DVD Release Date: September 17, 2002

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Stats: 7,133 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (7,133)

  • SirPant
    September 18, 2009
    SirPant
    Panic Room is an Ok film but Jodie Foster annoys me and Fincher has done so much better!
  • RossCollinsUK
    July 8, 2009
    RossCollinsUK
    Formulaic cat-and-mouse thriller that provides a vehicle for some cheesy visual effects.
  • mrpopcorn
    March 15, 2009
    mrpopcorn
    "It was supposed to be the safest room in the house"

    A woman and her teenage daughter become imprisoned in the panic room of their own house by 3 criminals.

    REVIEW
    'Panic Room' is essentially a basic cat-and-mouse thriller with a decent premise, typica...( read more)lly over-stylised by director David Fincher. Fincher's work is mostly enjoyable, and the end result looks polished and pristine, but sometimes you have to ask yourself exactly why he does things the way he does.

    When Jodie Foster and her daughter move into a new house, they must spend their first night in the panic room, a specially reinforced room built into the house to protect you and your family in the event of a break-in, as that is exactly what has happened - burglars, in the form of Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker, and Dwight Yoakam, who, incidentally, have come for the hidden millions in the panic room.

    Like I said, it looks good throughout, Fincher's trademark camera-work and effects and tricks on show nearly the whole time (shots moving through cup handles and cross sections of flooring), but what sets it above being just another run-of-the-mill thriller are the lead performances. Foster is excellent, as always, and the three intruders play brilliantly off one another. Yoakam injects a real creepiness to Raoul, Whitaker always the strong, level-headed Burnham, and Leto in frantic mode with a little hint of Tyler Durden as Junior (although he looks like he got Forest Whitaker's hairstylist).

    There are some good action set pieces and a tense moment here and there, but nothing that's going to have you on the edge of your seat. The movies suffers a little from predictability and a lack of pace, but the dramatic finale rounds it off well enough. A salute to the fact that a movie can be good through good performances, so why does David Fincher insist on drawing it out so he can add more clever camera tricks? Is it for us or is it for him?
  • AgentLexi2132
    November 19, 2008
    AgentLexi2132
    ''This is what I do; if some idiot with a sledgehammer could break in do you really think I'd still have a job?''

    A woman and her teenage daughter become imprisoned in the panic room of their own house by 3 criminals.

    Jodie Foster: Meg Altman

    Kristen Stewart...( read more): Sarah Altman

    Forest Whitaker: Burnham

    David Fincher has made a number of films i'm a huge fan of. Ranging from Zodiac to Seven. Panic Room again Fincher delivers again, a tense fired-up fast paced thriller. He has a talent for using every trick in the book in a way that perfectly merges with the material. He also always makes the most out of every script, which means the comparative quality of the movie relies strongly on the quality of the script Fincher has to work from.
    Alien 3 was a false start for Fincher, a mangled and predictable script made merely watchable by excellent direction and some good acting.
    In the cases of Se7en and Fight Club the screenplays were brilliant and so are the pieces themselves.

    I won't even begin summing up all the loop holes Writer David Koepp has come up with. The fact he's aware of some of them (a villain says `we could've done that' after Jodie Foster's Meg Altman smashes the cameras) doesn't make them any less dumb. There's a case to be made for characters not behaving completely rational in the circumstances the movie presents, but Panic Room frequently stretched my ability to suspend my disbelief. Fincher does a good job of masking most of them, but no amount of great directing could ever compensate for the script's inclination towards cheap thrills.

    [Meg smashes the house's security cameras with a sledgehammer]
    Raoul: Why the hell didn't we do that?

    Koepp's screenplay is conceptually quite strong but turns out to be not only a shelter for plot holes you could build a panic room in, but also a collection of ideas that you could call 'tried-and-tested'. I would rather call them tired-and-testing. You've heard the derogatory terms before; it's Die Hard in a house! or it's an adult Home Alone.
    There's truth to both labels, but it goes beyond that. A scene echoing Rear Window I can forgive, but does that cops-knocking-on-the-door sequence have to be lifted from Bound? And is it just me or does the (in itself excellent) opening sequence merely update the one from North by Northwest? Then there's the use of plot devices so familiar you have trouble actually remembering in what film you've seen it before (because it's ten movies, not one). The best example may be the diabetic kid fitted as standard.

    Another thing I appreciate in Fincher's other films is the amount of depth he finds room for. One thing becomes clear when watching this film, it's Fincher's homage to Hitchcock project, a thriller played straight with some technical wizardry supporting it (lots of CG camerawork and a reverse dolly zoom, a technique pioneered by Hitch in Vertigo, as the final shot), but a thriller which mainly goes for suspense. While Fincher's direction goes a long way in the suspense department (he cleverly bypasses the predictability of the screenplay) he doesn't seem to have applied any knowledge about why (certain) Hitchcock films are still interesting. Those films' main strength are the strong psychological themes throughout (Psycho, Rear Window and Vertigo). While Koepp makes some desperate resort to Altman's claustrophobia, it doesn't really go for that angle. In fact it doesn't seem to go for any psychological angle at all. As such, I found it too plot driven and lacking characters I really connected with. That lack of depth in any sense may not kill the movie, but it does reinforce my impression that this is Fincher's 'good-career-move' flick. A straight, stylish thriller with plenty box office potential but little substance. It feels somewhat like a film to rebound his career after cult hit Fight Club became a box office dud.

    ''I spent the last 12 years of my life building rooms like this specifically to keep out people like us.''


    BUT....like I said, while the writing on this film isn't anything to be proud of, in terms of bringing it to screen there are little errors. Fincher succeeds in drawing tension from the most trivial of scenes, using his trademark bag of tricks. He's helped by Howard Shore's fitting soundtrack as well. Again every one of his shots is interesting in itself while they still serve a function, which is atmosphere. It's not as doom-laden as Se7en but threat is always sustained throughout. Panic Room isn't simply stylistically satisfying the way most Hollywood movies are nowadays. It goes beyond that. Technically, this really is a masterpiece. Also, Fincher gets the best out of his cast. Foster has a few truly wonderful (short and emotional) beats, while also showing being capable of handling a physical role such as Meg's. And the triple act of the burglars works wonders, even if Dwight Yoakam goes far OTT by the end.

    I've lost count of the times I've watched this thrill ride. Camera angles, intelligent vantage points and multiple split screen shots which work to great effect. The music and sounds really do add to the tension also providing shocks and electric to certain scenes. In the guise of long dreary tones, that if you have ever played the original Resident Evil in the mansion, the same isolated helpless melody is used here, to great effect.

    Jodie Foster a veteran actress is top notch class as a damaged fragile mother warily looking out for her daughter. Kristen Stewart also gives a performance worthy of note.
    Jared Leto, Dwight Yoakam and Forest Whitaker also flesh out their characters to great effect, granted Dwight as Raoul is in a mask for most of the duration of the film.

    For all it's tension there is humour also and some brilliant action sequences as Meg and daughter outwit their captives, the burglars.
    One of my secondary fave thrillers, David Fincher continues to make smart slick films that give something for your mind to chew on.

    ''It's disgusting how much I love you.''
  • thmtsang
    August 2, 2008
    thmtsang
    Brilliant thriller and great cast. Jodie and her daughter move into a big house to be closer to her ex. While they are sleeping three armed robbers break into their house. Jodie and her kid escape to the panic room - a concrete safe room. But the robbers won't go away as they wil...( read more)l do everything to get into that room.
  • hugenymetsfan
    November 2, 2009
    hugenymetsfan
    a surprisingly good thriller. Who in the world has a panic room? Why?
  • Waynanc
    October 30, 2009
    Waynanc
    Very intense I was on the edge of my seat. Love Jodie Foster and Kristen did great
  • musikankan1
    October 26, 2009
    musikankan1
    Very interesting movie. Very thrilling and ejoyable in some kind of suspensful way. Jodie Forster is a powerful actor, and she does a great job in this one.
  • dukeakasmudge
    October 23, 2009
    dukeakasmudge
    Boring from the beginning
  • kevinzegersishaot
    October 21, 2009
    kevinzegersishaot
    I LOVE this movie, its like my favorite movie EVER! I know its rated R, but who cares! ITS AWESOME!

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Critic Reviews

March 31, 2002
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Foster nails the role, giving a tight, focused performance illuminated by shards of feeling. full review

March 29, 2002
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

It's a triumph of technical filmmaking; as a story, it's got ice in its heart. full review

March 29, 2002
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

It might sometimes forget to make sense, but no matter, since it creates enough tension that the audience can hardly think anyway. full review

March 29, 2002
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

[Fincher's] camera sense and assured pacing make it an above-average thriller. full review

March 29, 2002
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Once we sense Panic Room isn't going to cheat, it gathers in tension, because the characters are operating out of their own resources, and that makes them the players, not the pawns. full review

March 28, 2002
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Works the basics with style and intelligence. full review

View more Panic Room reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • gigglemonster2000
    May 29, 2007
    gigglemonster2000
    I have a big problem with this movie. I myself am diabetic. They should've done a little more research on what happens when a diabetic goes into hypoglycemia. One word...idiots. That's not even close to what happens. It ruined the whole movie for me.
  • possumisme
    November 18, 2006
    possumisme
    Plot Summary for
    Panic Room (2002)
    This story centers around a divorced woman in her 30's and her daughter, who are caught up in a cat-and-mouse game inside their new New York brownstone when three burglars come looking for a hidden cache of cash. Mother and daughter hide in the "panic room," a secret room designed for just such a purpose, but still end up fighting for their lives...
  • doischmark
    June 26, 2006
    doischmark
    This is like my all time favourite. I love thriller movies and this one is just great. You dont expect so much twists and action. Jodie Foster is one very calm lady if this was a real life situation. I love it. everyone who hasn't watched it should go and watch it.
  • brandonakame
    June 7, 2006
    brandonakame
    very suspenseful, unique movie
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