Panic Room

David Fincher is a god. It's just that plain and simple. There are few directors that get me as giddy as Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en, The Game, Alien 3). Well despite these previous sentences, I was not expecting much out of his latest, Panic Room.

It's hard to explain but in my eyes I saw Panic Room as something of a "break" for Fincher. Sure it's going to have the amazing camera work and the great atmospherics, but it appeared to be lacking the deep story or lingering message of some of his previous films. The movie centers around one massive gimmick, a panic room. For those of you that don't watch movie trailers, Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous, or Webster...a panic room is basically a "safe" the size of a room. The basic idea is in the event of a robbery or siege on your home, you lock yourself in the panic room which is complete with food, surveillance equipment, and a way to contact the outside world for help. This movie doesn't start with a side story and eventually end up in the panic room...the whole damn movie IS THE PANIC ROOM.

Despite my low expectations coming into Panic Room, I was completely changed after the final credits rolled. PR is definitely a popcorn movie and isn't going to stick with you like Fight Club or keep you up nights like Se7en, but it's excellent at creating suspense, witty humor, and great visuals.

We all know the simple premise of PR, so instead of creating a typical review here, I'm going to write up a laundry list of the things I loved about PR:

-The film was completely grounded in reality. Never once throughout the course of the movie did you think, "Bullshit, that would never happen." There's no b.s. special effects, jumping midgets, or rocket launcher wielding monkeys. The reason this movie was so good at creating suspense was it was completely believable. The robbers (Forrest Whitaker, Jared Leto, and Dwight Yoakam) acted just as you'd expect real "small-time" criminals to act. Their makeshift ways to break into the room seemed just like something you'd conjure up. Never once did I shake my head and wonder what the f*ck the screenwriter was thinking, that's not a small feat in movie theaters these days.

-Adding to this realism was the fight scenes. There wasn't any Crouching Tiger, Hidden Wires crap in PR. I understand that in some flicks this turns out to be excellent eye candy, but it would have been completely out of place here. Single mothers don't do backflips and beat up hardened criminals with ease, and thankfully none of that type of husk is present in PR. Another nice part about the fight scenes is they've maintained the grittiness of Fight Club. Remember in the basement brawls of Fight Club how Fincher always focused on the faces of the spectators, not the participants of fights, whenever a huge blow was landing. The grimacing faces of the spectators gave the blow twice the effect it could have otherwise had. The same effect is used in Panic Room, and it works perfectly!

-Insanely sweet camera work. Fincher is at it again, and aside from Darren Aronofsky, no one can do it better. During the first 20 minutes of the film you'll see what I mean as he manipulates one camera (and one continuous shot) through 3 levels of the house. It's almost as memorable as the Cocacabanna entrance in Goodfellas, okay maybe not...but it's still impressive.

-Jodie Foster. As many of you know Nicole Kidman was originally supposed to play Meg Altman, the main character. Personally I love the fact that Kidman got injured and Foster was her replacement. I understand that if Kidman was in the role it might bolster up the box office a little more, but it'd kill a lot of the movie's credibility for me. I can't see Ms. Australian Albino kicking ass and wielding sledgehammers, but I personally had no problem believing the former Agent Clarice Starling. She dealt with Hannibal Lecter, making a confrontation with three criminals appear like a walk in the park. Who's Kidman roughed up in her acting days? Slapping around Tom Cruise after watching his gay porno doesn't count. :)

Despite all the compliments I've showered on this film, I have to dock it down a significant amount for one very important reason: no replay value. Fight Club, The Game, and Se7en have blessed my TV screen countless times, but I don't see any of that replay value in Panic Room. It was a great suspense flick and definitely worthy of a couple hours at the theater, but nothing in the movie will stick to your ribs. Nothing will keep you coming back again and again. Panic Room WAS great to watch, emphasis on "WAS".

Rating: 1/4 out of four.

-Now that you've read something, he's written. Wouldn't you like to find out more about Goc? Here you go.