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Review by Jack Foley |
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DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: Director and cast filmographies. Panic Room teaser
created by David Fincher.
Like him or loathe him, David Fincher is undoubtedly one of the most exciting
directors working in mainstream Hollywood today; with each new project virtually
guaranteed to provoke furious debate among film fans keen to admire or criticise
him.
Se7en is rightly regarded by the majority as
a work of genius, but films such as The Game left audiences divided, while
some critics went as far as to label Fight Club
'a Nazi piece of work' which was one of the most dangerous films to emerge
from Tinseltown since Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.
His latest, Panic Room, while nowhere near as controversial, still looks set
to further the debate surrounding the director's talent.
Jodie Foster stars as newly-divorced mother, Meg Altman, who, together with
her diabetic daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart), moves into a posh New York
apartment which comes equipped with the panic room of the title - an impenetrable
chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of a home invasion.
As misfortune would have it, her home is invaded during her very first night,
but while the two women make it into the chamber with seconds to spare, what
the burglars really want is also lying inside.
The scenario is established in about 10 minutes, leaving viewers to sweat
it out for the remainder of the time as the inevitable game of cat-and-mouse
ensues.
And while the plot sounds fairly routine - and even limiting, given that it
is confined to just one location - the resulting couple of hours are among
the most tense you are likely to spend in the cinema this year; liberally
sprinkled with that trademark Fincher black humour, a smattering of ultra-violence
and, of course, the occasional twist.
There
are times when the suspense in Panic Room reaches Hitchcockian proportions,
while the nods to other movies are numerous; but the director is also careful
to keep things fresh and exciting throughout, turning in a dizzying visual
tour de force (his cameras travel through walls and ceilings at times) which
only serve to heighten the tension.
And his talent for coaxing terrific performances from his leads is also in
full effect, with Foster (who stepped in for Nicole Kidman at the last minute)
terrific as the feisty mother, struggling to come to terms with the escalating
situation.
Yet it is the villains - Jared Leto, Dwight Yoakam and Forest Whitaker - who
really steal the show, with the latter, in particular, walking away with the
acting honours as the most conflicted and sympathetic of the trio.
Panic Room may, ultimately, be a triumph of style over substance (it has very
little to say and does exactly what it says on the label) and may not aspire
to the giddy heights of Fight Club or Se7en, but its entertainment value is
such that fans shouldn't be disappointed. Mainstream movies this good as are
all too few at the moment.
