Panic Room
You know, it can be nice to see that a top-notch, A-list director like David (Fight Club) Fincher can actually ADMIT that a film he is taking on is something of a b-movie quality, as he did with this 2002 release, but then the film itself winds up coming undone with a ridiculous, poorly-written script. The plot concerns a newly divorced mom (Jodie Foster) and her daughter (Twilightâs Kristen Stewart) who move into an enormous NYC townhouse thatâs too rich for most movie starsâ taste, not knowing that there is millions locked in a safe within the placeâs âpanic roomâ, a totally secure steel structure where one would basically hide during a home invasion. Before they start thinking that their luck has changed for the better, on the very first night they stay there, what else should happen but a home invasion by three guys looking for the money, one of which is the home security expert who designed the place (Forest Whitaker), another is the spoiled son of the dead previous tenant who knows where the money is (Jared Leto), and the third being a shady character who ironically happens to be the smartest of the three but is also a ruthless psychopath (Dwight Yoakam). Of course Foster and Stewart escape into the panic room (where the money is), and the threesome bicker and argue about how to lure them out and get the dough. The problem of course is the script by David Koepp that makes the characters come off like complete idiots and the implausible events therein that would never happen in real life, including the fact right off the bat that the bad guys broke in thinking the house wasnât occupied yet, but when they realize it is, stupidly carry on with the plan instead of pulling out and rethinking their strategy. Even better is when Whitaker figures out to pump propane gas into the room to flush them out, so what does Foster do? She ignites the gas to cause a massive explosion that interestingly leaves everyone unhurt and also fails to wake the neighbors. As far as the acting goes, Whitaker (as usual) gives the best performance, bringing a real human side to his character even as the script tries to make us believe that a world class security expert such as him doesnât even carry a gun for personal protection, while the crazed Yoakam does, thus making it a major plot point that the nutcase has Whitaker at his mercy the whole time. Even better is the fact that Whitaker commits the crime whist wearing his work clothes, complete with NAMETAG (thus making him easily identifiable), which makes the viewer feel that a fine actor has literally been betrayed by sloppy writing; Yoakam to his credit manages to come off as calm yet terrifying, despite the fact that his character spends half the movie wearing a Mushmouth mask covering his face; and Leto sadly not only plays a character thatâs written to be a complete moron, he plays the part with all the subtlety of an 80s pro wrestling manager to boot! As for Foster, her performance is adequate enough even if we really donât learn much about her, and Stewart shows early signs of her Twilight acting style playing the daughter as someone who really seems indifferent about the whole terrifying ordeal whereas a real kid would probably be freaking out. Given the fact that the whole story takes place within the home, the plot twists (if you can call them that) donât really surprise the viewer much, and the only excuse for story development is to have Fosterâs useless ex-husband turn up and immediately get beaten down. The one chance the story had to redeem itself was with the ending, and that turns out to be a letdown too, going for the shallow conventional finish instead of something that could have been deep and meaningful. Overall, a movie with a good director and good actors that is ruined by a screenwriter that chose to play it safe and stupidâŚ
5/10