Movies…with a little bit of obscure culture and sports mixed in
“A divorced woman and her diabetic daughter take refuge in their newly-purchased house’s safe room when three men break-in, searching for a missing fortune.” Director: David FincherWriter: David KoeppStaring: Jodie […]
“A divorced woman and her diabetic daughter take refuge in their newly-purchased house’s safe room when three men break-in, searching for a missing fortune.”
Director: David Fincher
Writer: David Koepp
Staring: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam, Jared Leto, Patrick Bauchau
Release Date: March 29, 2002
IMDB
If you want relationship advice, may I suggest introducing your significant other to David Fincher? Ever since I told Emma about Fincher and got her to watch a few of his movies, we have been absolutely hooked. Who would have thought David Fincher would bring couples closer together?
Panic Room may be the least known of Fincher’s movie projects. Perhaps it is The Game (1997)? Regardless of your preferences, the undeniable truth is that every fincher movie has something to remind you that this guy is an expert at what he does. Each of his projects has a bit of that extra pizzazz that demands you pay attention to the little details.
Panic Room is no different. Fincher’s follow-up to Fight Club (1999) must have been hotly anticipated. I wasn’t conscious of it as a seven year old, but I can only believe it. The movie has an incredibly small tight-nit cast, anchored by two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster and eventual Oscar winner Forest Whitaker. Forster, Whitaker, and the three other major players bring great tension to the screen, and the imaginative camera work of Fincher makes this one-setting movie feel like an open world RPG.
Jodie Foster plays Meg Altman, a recently divorced mother who is moving into her new extravagant yet vacant home with her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart). Within this new house, which used to belong to a very wealthy individual, there is a panic room. Realtor Evan Kurlander (Ian Buchanan) takes pleasure in showing Meg and Sarah all the quirks of the high-tech space, including cameras, a PA system, and high tech bullet proof doors.
With the house needed to sign quickly, Meg and Sarah move into the residence quickly, bringing in all their boxes in addition to their emotional and intangible baggage. Meg is lacking confidence after just having her marriage fall apart in front of her, and Sarah is already an expert in sass but has to live carefully everyday due to her diabetes diagnosis.
The loving but tenuous mother-daughter relationship is put to the test when robbers break into the home.
Junior (Jared Leto) is the organizer of this entire criminal enterprise, and to say he is hot headed would do a disservice to other easily irritable folks. The brains of the operation belong to Burnham, who is played by Whitaker. Burnham’s backstory is built on more than just greed. He took this job for a personal reason, and his willingness to cooperate is the key to success because his normal day-to-day job is installing panic rooms. Like the very one in this particular home. The third member of the antagonist tripod is Raoul (Dwight Yoakam). He is the muscle of the operation, and his involvement makes Burnham very warry.
Burnham, Junior and Raoul are all after a fuck ton of money hidden within the panic room. If no one was home, it’d be any easy job. But when Meg wakes up and finds unwanted visitors in her house, she races to get herself and Sarah into the room of safety.
So now begins the cat-and-mouse game that makes up the majority of Panic Room. Meg and Sarah are trapped in a closet-sized panic room in a new home they know barely anything about and there is only a solid wall of steel separating them from the three thieving musketeers.
As Panic Room unfolds, the two sides of the wall play mental games with one another, trying to establish the upper hand. Each takes turns at their attempt of bartering, but in the end all attempts at compromise seem unfavorable to a single mother and her child. As Panic Room unfolds its twists and turns, more dangers emerge for both parties. The final two acts have great tension laced throughout and the twists are woven in with proper spacing and imaginative self-contained structure.
One of Fincher’s best attributes is that he doesn’t treat the audience with kid’s gloves. All the exposition and foreshadowing in Panic Room is done with visual cues.For example, we never once get explicitly told that Sarah has diabetes. Fincher forces us to pay attention to the details in the shot, and who would we be as the audience if we weren’t engrossed in what he is showing us?
Just take the opening credits. Sprawling title cards over the skyscrapers of New York City. It looks freaking awesome. The wide expanse of a huge city, bustling with entertainment. Now let’s have a movie that takes place in one location and two primary rooms. Just a tease for the audience. Then there are all the robotic shots and the traversing through the walls. We are like mice in his maze and he is steering us with his camera of cheese to a fantastic set piece.
FIncher can make anything look interesting, and he can tell us a story without words. But when words are needed, it’s nice to have a talented cast to bring it all to life. There are only five major characters in this movie and each plays their part wonderfully.
Let’s talk about Foster. She wasn’t even supposed to be in this movie. Nicole Kidman was originally cast in the role but had to back out due to a knee injury. When Foster got the role, she got pregnant, so production had to be halted. Talk about a whirlwind! Despite the troubles and tribulations, Foster brings Meg to life with a lot of relatability. She is playing the action hero but a dumbed down one. Sure, she makes some dumb decisions. Like why not go get the phone earlier? You have cameras and it was most definitely possible. But Foster plays the character of Meg frantically so you get that she may have forgotten the easiest thing that is in front of her.
One of Meg’s main worries is obviously her daughter Sarah, who is played by Kristen Stewart. I think Stewart was built for aloofness. She has the face of a “I don’t give a shit” and the voice of “Yea, no duh” down perfectly. There are movies where the kid can ruin the movie if the part is not played well or written well. For example, I am watching 65 (2023) now and this kid storyline is terrible.
Can you imagine Stewart in just her third major movie working with a director like Fincher? That must have been a really tough initiation process, but safe to say that it paid off.
The three bad guys are played by Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and Dwight Yoakam. Whitaker has the most depth in his part of Burnham and his evolution as a character has you possibly rooting for him in the end. A goodish guy, doing a bad thing for a good reason, gets stuck with really bad people, and now he has to work his way through a flash flood of bullshit. Whitaker has a great sense for when to add a touch of emotion and when to get medieval with his objective genius.
Jared Leto is a mad man in Panic Room but in the best way possible. Leto as Junior is the youngest of the group, and he is getting overwhelmed constantly by the road bumps they are having to endure. You get the sense early on that Junior can not be trusted, and of course that ends up being true. I am not sure if Fincher let Leto just run with his manic behaviors or if it was directed? Regardless, it works.
RAOUL!!! Raoul with the mask on is my favorite character in Panic Room. A man of few words and even fewer morals, the persona is brought to life by Dwight Yoakam. Yoakam and Whitaker have a great character development scene during the propane scene. If you know, then you know. Burnham has some sense of empathy and also the smarts to know that Meg can fight against him. Raoul says “fuck you” only with his eyes. It’s outstanding.
And when Raoul takes his mask off, it is a horrible sight. Man the guy is ugly. His face is as horrid as his personality. I mean no offense to Dwight Yoakam. It is just a pure coincidence that the shock value of his unmasking matches the output of the shocking events of Panic Room.
Panic Room is a damn good watch. Everything about Panic Room comes together because Fincher is an absolute mad man in the best way possible. The small stacked cast has aged like fine wine and the visual storytelling that Fincher is known for will never go out of style. Panic Room is built for all age-appropriate audiences and not just the Fincher-heads. But if you are one of his acolytes, then you’ll be satisfied as well.
STANKO RATING: B+
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