Film Reviews

Panic Room

• Rating:
• Director: David Fincher.
• Starring: Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam, Jared Leto, Kristen Stewart, Ann Magnuson, Ian Buchanan.
• Details: US / 120 minutes / (15PG).

Visually inventive offering from David Fincher, which occasionally thrills but fails to register a major impact. Jodie Foster plays recently separated Meg Altman, who moves into a four story Manhattan brownstone with her daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart). Included in the spacious building is a 'panic room', a hidden space with a fortified steel door, which the occupants can retreat to in case of emergency. On the first night Meg and Sarah stay in their new home, that emergency occurs in the shape of three thieves. Technically, Panic Room is magnificent. Fincher's visual flair has been honed since Fight Club and his direction here is a thing of sublime beauty. Where it is flounders (and badly) is with David Koepp's script. Strictly conventional, Koepp's screenplay works within a narrow set of parameters and while it contains a few moments of tension; his writing lacks a certain imagination. Similarly, the actors do exactly what's asked of them but nobody genuinely inhabits their character. As far as mainstream dramatic thrillers go, Panic Room is a reasonably enjoyable film. But when you've got a catalogue of work that includes Se7en and Fight Club, nothing less than remarkable will suffice.

Review by Garreth Murphy