I bought this movie and watched it. It was so good so so so exiting and so suspencful threen men broke into jodie fosters home her and her daughter where sleeping the three men did not know someone was home the thought no one was home but they wake up and see in the camras and there are peple in her home. I dont want to give it away but I think you should get it and OWN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YOU WILL WANT TO WATCH OVER AND OVER!

This is an awesome movie for what it is. There were many back n' forth's going on with how people felt about it. Some people didn't like it, but they don't really give a clear, clean, cut believable reason as to why they don't. They're reason is as a couch film critic's perspective as to what they would've done if they had shot this film. Go ahead, shoot the film your way then. I didn't see any flaws in this picture. I thought everyone did a fantastic job from Director, David Fincher's meticulous and detailed directing to one of cinema's top actors, Jodie Foster carrying an entire film mostly shot in a room. The main drive of this movie is about an ordinary human being having to quickly pull it together and fight when faced with conflict. The three-disc set is definitely the one to get, as the price is dropping just as low as the one disc, plus if you have any dream to be in the film business on any level and not sure what it's like to make a movie, this is one of the best interpretations of what goes on in production, and it's not Hollywood lights and limos, you are taken through an almost step by step film school fly on the wall version of how hard people work to make a film, it's clearly not something that any critic or film goer can do, whether or not you like the film is irrelevant, the passion and work ethic that these people have is pretty incredible, and on this special edition extra discs set it definitely shows.

David Fincher's pacing and cinematography is worthy of praise. This movie written by David koepp is a stunner. Jodie and Forest whitaker shine as the stars. It is a simple cat and mouse game yet not a minute of the movie deviates from the suspense. It is the minimality of digression that is the key here. The director does not leave the story line to chase any ponderous or emotional moments. From when the burglars enter the house till the very end the suspense refuses to die. The concept of the panic room, the strong hold, the very room the burglars are after is novel. In many places in the movie the tables are turned and the movie goes from jodie's character has upper hand TO burglars have upper hand sitation. In the end Jodie's character goes into the Bruce Willis Die hard mode. One pitted against the gang where she has to outwit them. The movie is violent and brutal in the scenes where it is necessary. The fun is in how the burglars try to get Jodie's character to come out of the panic room. Nicole Kidman was originally to star in the role of Meg Altman (Jodie), but had to back out due to a knee injury she sustained during the filming of Moulin Rouge. However, she did add her voice to the movie portraying Steven Altman's girlfriend and talking with Meg Altman on the phone. The movie is fully shot in a house and it's amazing how even without change of environments,sets and no expensive costume design, one is still glued to the screen. The location is still the same house. So where lies the gem ?. The gem is in the suspense and plotting and in the deep seated desire of every movie goer to see the underdog win.

regards, Vikram

Director: David Fincher.
Starring: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto.
When burglars break into their home, Foster and daughter Steward head for a sealed-off, impregnable bunker; fine and dandy-o, then, except what the burglars want is hidden in the panic room. A superbly constructed thriller from director Fincher (Seven, Fight Club) that boasts almost unbearable tension.

I don't mind suspending my disbelief during a thriller --otherwise, it would be impossible to enjoy any of them-- but I do mind when filmmakers make such stupid choices, it is simply impossible to believe anything that's going on. That's what happens when Jodie Foster (who works hard to save this film) and her daughter get stuck in the panic room of their new mansion, where three thieves have broken into. The problem, of course, is the treasure they want is in the panic room, so the two women are forced to spend quite some time in this room, which is not such a terrible problem, since it has been built for that same purpose. The room contains a toilet, flashlights, fire blankets, a medicine kit--pretty much anything you would need in an emergency, except a single piece of food. Maybe the builders of the panic room expected people to eat the blankets. The movie has other moments that are simply unbelievable, which is too bad, because this could have been a pretty good thriller.

I'd give the film 3 and a half stars, its an entertaining movie with some good performances from Jodie Foster and Forest Whittaker. The director David Fincher (Seven, Alien3, Fight Club) uses some interesting camera moves to keep you on your toes - the camera goes through keyholes, down air vents etc. However it does rehash a lot of standard thriller plotlines and actually isn't that thrilling.

Why this special edition gets 4 stars is because the extras are very good. You wouldn't believe the amount of money they spent building the inside of the house. The courtyard at the back of the house is also a set as well. The extras are really good and make this version well worth getting. In all honesty I'm more likely to watch some of the extras before I watch the film again.

Its also worth mentioning that this film needs to watched after dark, as it is filmed in at best half light, and most of the time less than that. So if its still daylight outside and you haven't got heavy curtains select another movie.

A very suspenseful thriller--well-crafted, directed, and acted, with a full variety of characterizations and non-stop, heart-pounding scares. Recommended,

Jodie Foster is great again! This movie will keep you glued. Great chilling and suspenseful.

A very tense thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat through out! It does go a little over board towards the end,but it is still a first rate thriller. The superbit version I have, did not impress me any more or less than a standard DVD release.

The next time you remodel or build a new room or home, add this to your plans. As the threat of terrorism increases those old 1950s bomb shelters are in vogue. Use this movie as a model. A lot of valuable information here.

This was a dark movie as a single mother and her pre-teen daughter, Sarah, moved to 94th Street. It was strange to get oout and search for an apartment at night. With the scary movie, you have to use imagination to figure out what they are doing. The owner specifically showed them the Panic Room and explained what its purpose was, to hide from things. The secret is that $30 million was hid in this hidey hole. The rooms were pretty large as Sarah rode around on her scooter; schoolhouse lights hung from the ceiling. Meg, (Jodie Foster in glasses) appears to be a homely type. The intruders knew that the house had a peep-hole.

Perhaps all of the darkness makes for mystery. but it would have been more effective had the film been made in black and white. Lighting has a lot to be desired. Everything was dreary, no fun, no laughter. It was most frustrating to not be able to see what is happening. I've never liked movies filmed at night in big cities, or in the dark indoors. We could see silhouettes of violence as the three outsiders tear the inside of the house apart with sledge hammers and noisy, loud chainsaw, looking for the stach of money.

Camera work was erratic and the conversations confrontational with no love shown. It was verbally abusive with lots of swearing and cussing. This was like a late-night soap opera in drag. The visitor did not take the spoils. Instead... Sarah was more adult than her mom at first. Terror and abuse is something some kids learn in an unhappy marriage. It is possible that Meg's husband, Steve, is involved with this intrusion.

Before Sarah suffers a panic attack, after seeing her university prof father talking to the criminals, Meg becomes hysterical as her cell phone was not of much use in the Panic Room. She had called her husband and said "there are three..."

The concierge, French for superintendent of supplies like Mona claimed to be in a Los Angeles hotel where Nat King Cole called her Mona Lisa, was avaukabke at a fancy apartment house near Central Park. Some way, Meg had sent a subliminal message on the phone; the police arrive at the request of Steve. At least, they know how to treat a woman out there, as opposed to K. P. who showed me no respect or integrity to a woman who was almost killed. After the rescue, suddenly we see color as things appear normal for the first time.

Meg and Sarah are out in the Park on a Fall day in glorious color. How much better this movie would have been had we seen a bit of that color throughout and not relegated to the ending. It was wasted by then. There is no honor among thieves.

There was a lot of negative hype about this movie, so I decided to sit down, watch it and set the record straight. So, I gather up the usual movie watching essentials, (popcorn, pizza, shinerbock, green tea, Hershey bars, cornnuts, barbeque, French onion, cheddar, salt and vinegar flavored potato chips, a slab of ribs, and some carrots and celery stick, so I won't get fat) and proceed to watch the movie. From the moment the movie started...I could tell it was going to be interesting. I was very right. The story starts out with a woman and her daughter trying to find a house. They find this humongous house with a {you'll never guess} panic room in it. During their first night...the house gets broken into. From that moment on...you will be on the edge of your seat. The cinematography was wonderfully done. It was full of suspense that kept you on the verge of your chair. Amen.
So that's about it. Just to recap. You like movies? You like houses? You like chicks? Oh, hell, you like men??? Well, all of these are a factor in this movie, so watch and enjoy. If you don't like it, you can get the F#@K out!

This review is more about the "SuperBit" transfer of the movie to DVD than the movie itself. The movie itself is great and I highly recommend it.

However, the transfer on to this 2002 "SuperBit" version is very lacking in several areas. The SUPERBIT idea is a good one that is poorly executed on this transfer. The original intent was to maximize video and audio quality by limiting or even eliminating extra features (like trailers, documentaries, featurettes, and "Making-Of" snippets) to reserve space such that the movie can be presented in the highest quality.

They have failed to do that here. The video and audio quality are not what they could be.

First, the movie is encoded onto a DVD-9 RSDL disc. This means the DVD is capable of storing 9.5 GB of data. However, not even 6 GB is used. As a result, the video and audio quality is not what it could be.

"Panic Room" is a 112 minute movie. Any movie that is 2 hours long or less should be able to easily fit on a DVD-9 disc at maximum encoding rate, provided no extra features are placed on the disc. The maximum video encoding rate to fit a 2 hour (or less) movie onto a DVD-9 disc is 9.8 Mbps. However, this SuperBit version averages only 6.5 Mbps.

This SuperBit version offers audio encoding in 3 types: Dolby 2.0 Surround 192kbps, Dolby Digital 5.1, and DTS 5.1. At first glance this is great news, until you discover that the DTS encoding isn't as high quality as it could be. The DD 2.0 Surround is presented at a bitrate of 192bkps as expected. So is the DD 5.1 at the expected 384kbps rate. DTS 5.1 can go as high as 1536 kbps, but on this disc is presented at only 768 kbps. This is unsatisfactory given the fact that one-third of the available disc space of the DVD-9 isn't even used. The DTS encoding rate should be at least 1024 kbps for a movie like this. This would represent a 33% increase in filespace for the audio portion, but a much larger increase in audio quality to the human ear. The filespace increase would be only about 256 MB, which is very reasonable when you have over 3 GB of space not even being used.

If they had encoded "Panic Room" on this SuperBit disc at an average video bitrate of 9.5 Mbps, and removed the trailers and features, they would have had enough space to present all three audio encodings above, especially the DTS 5.1 encoding at the 1024 kbps rate I stated.

Such an encoding process would have used 9.4 GB of the 9.5 GB of available space. A much better way to fill up the DVD-9 disc and adhere to the spirit of the SuperBit ideal. The result would have been a movie encoded to DVD-9 at a much higher video and audio quality than what was presented on this disc.

I notice that they will be offering a repackaged SuperBit version in October 2006. Hopefully that version will fix the flaws I just mentioned and present the movie in the highest encoding rate both video-wise and audio-wise. It might even offer the better DD-EX 6.1 and DTS-ES 6.1 audio encodings for that extra rear center channel that many A/V receivers can process now.

Another thing I am noticing is that many times, for popular movies, they are released them in 2-disc editions. The first disc contains only the movie and the second disc is all the extra stuff. If the movie contains both DD and DTS encodings on the first disc, with a very high video bitrate of 9.0 Mbps or greater, it is already in the SuperBit mold.

Even if you are aware of what the Panic Room in the movie is all about, (you already know that when you watch the trailer) the screenplay and story are good enough to keep you hooked till the end. There are a number of nicely-handled tense moments. Wait towards the end for the macabre things to happen in the story though in the beginning one is lead to believe that it is going to be a "Home Alone" kind of a thing where the intruders are simply going to be outsmarted all the time and that no murders or killings would take place. Brilliant piece of acting by Jody Foster particularly in the scene when the cops come home to check if anything is wrong in the household and when she is forced to prove them that everything is alright. The conclusion of the story was also a fair one. Not a boring movie. Four stars.

Jodie Foster, director David Fincher and the rest of the cast excel at providing loads of suspense in an interesting high concept thriller.

Panic Room derives it's effectiveness and fascination from a very basic human need - the necessity of security and safety. At one point one of the bad guys played by a greasy, corn rowed Jared Leto tells his gang of bumbling burglars that women - referring to a now firmly locked up Jodie Foster in her panic room - need safety and security. He wants to play on that to psych her out of the veritable vault that's preventing him from stealing his family's wealth. I think this sums up alot of why the movie works. There are lots of bad guys out there and at night when we shut the lights and go to sleep, they just might want to break in and prey on us. By having shelter within a shelter - a virtually impenetrable vault to hide - we feel safer, more secure and maybe we're even able to sleep better.

Of course how many of us could afford a panic room? So with this film, we can live vicariously through Foster's character and her daughter as they make a stand against the intruders in their home. Fincher's direction is spot on terrific. He's a director who can evoke Hitchcock effortlessly, while never mimicking the master's style. The intricate camera work which pans over the elaborate and convincing sets may owe alot to digital magic, but it never looks synthetic.

This is one you'll watch again and again. It's full of great, well acted characters and the premise is irresistible. Highly recommended.

I don't know if this movie was supposed to be scary or something....anyway, I bought this for $4 at a sale, and I had no idea if this movie was good or bad or what had critics said about it. Anyway I bought it and I was really pleased with my purchase.

It's a very entertaining movie and the story is original and fun. It's something that could happen to any of us and it's fun to see how this family comfronts it.

It's not gonna scare you, it won't make you jump off of your seat, but it'll let you have such a great time. I recommend this movie to people who like mystery and thriller movies.

5 stars.

Well, I liked it. But then again, I like a lot of cheezy stuff.

I remember seeing this film in the theater and being surprised at how much it differed from what I expected yet surpassed my expectations. I expecting a scary gritty film like Fincher's previous 'Se7en' or even something more along the lines of 'Fight Club', a gritty smart film that keeps your attention and blows your mind. Instead, I got a gritty smart film...period. Nothing overly fantastic happens. No revelations are disclosed before the credits roll but every frame is strategically placed together in an effort to hold the viewer in constant peril until the final frame...and for the most part it works.

The story revolves around a divorced mother (Foster) and her diabetic daughter (Stewart) who move into a new home just in time to have it broken into by three armed men (Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker & Dwight Yoakam) looking for a fortune left over by the previous owner. These men are all different breeds and that's what adds to the layers of this film. Leto, who to me is the star here, is the impatient flamboyant leader who knows where the money is and desires it the most. Whitaker is trying to take care of his family and needs this money the most. He's also the sensitive level headed one. Yoakam is the calm and collected psychopath who might as well kill everyone to get what he wants. When these men enter the house only to have Foster and Stewart lock themselves in 'The Panic Room', the only safe room in the house yet the only room the intruders desire to enter (that's where the money is) then the film gets extremely smart in showing how these men try and smoke them out sort-of-speak, and then turns to cat and mouse when things start to get out of hand.

For the most part this is very effective, and I might even say it were effective 100% if it weren't for the fact that it really gave me no feeling. I didn't really care about any of the characters...and to me Leto was the only real standout as far as acting. Foster is a great actress but a little dry here (too bad Kidman was hurt...she would have been sensational!) while I will admitt Stewart is quite convincing. The movie has a few jump scenes but nothing that will really evoke any fear and that's too bad because with a little tweaking this could have been brilliant...just add in a touch of the underlying fear of 'Se7en' and the mind-blowing truism of 'Fight Club' and 'Panic Room' would have been another Fincher classic. Don't get me wrong...it's still a great film and a very smart one at that; it just falls a little short of brilliance!

Jodie Foster Is one of the Greatest Actress's Ever period,but this clunky film is so boring&Predictable that it just never gets off the ground&put me to sleep. a film full of Cliches&dime a dozen story lines that never goes anywhere.

I got nothing to say. Was this supposed to be intense? Was this supposed to be a thriller? It was boring. Horrible acting, except for Forest Whitaker: but even he couldn't save this one. Pure Fincher? Pure trash. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Quite possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I am just too upset to type, I can't believe I actually waisted my time with this.

"Panic Room" is a great thriller- Jodie Foster's return to the big screen. I'd assume most people would enjoy the film itself. However, the real treat in the 3-Disc Special Edition is the behind-the-scenes footage explaining the wondeful camera work and production in the film. Any movie lover will be blown away by the creativity and the vision the director brings to this picture.

Good thriller -- Jodie Foster is, as always, wonderful, as is Forrest Whitaker. I just hope the screenwriter gave some acknowledgement somewhere to Frederick Knott, author of "Wait Until Dark." Some elements were a direct "steal," no pun intended.

I think I'll keep this one short. 'Panic Room' is a sharp, well-executed thriller. In terms of plot and ideas it's definitely a cut below earlier Fincher films like 'Fight Club' and 'Seven'. (You spell it 'Se7en' and I cut you! I cut you bad!!!) Still, Fincher's technical ability shines thru along with a reasonably plausible and intelligent script to allow this to be a very worthwhile film, even if it doesn't really have a terribly strong impact once it's all over.

You gotta already know the setup, but here it is: Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her creepy hermaphrodite child move into an absurdly massive and fancy house in New York (?), one which was inhabited by a rather eccentric old man who was particularly concerned with security. Thus the house contains a panic room, which contains an additional phone line and various video screens and is just virtually impenetrable. On their first night in the house a trio of burglars break into their home, and Meg and her daughter flee into the panic room. Trouble is, they've got no way to contact the outside world, and the items the thieves are after are located in the panic room itself. And that's about it. As is true of most well-done thrillers, a lot more happens within this scenario than you likely would've thought possible, all with out becoming to terribly contrived.

Fincher has always been a great visual stylist, and that ability is nicely displayed here, with smooth, gliding camera movements combined with CGI for clean movement all about the house. The whole thing is just very dark and ominous, as per usual, but in sleek, modern way rather than the clattering industrial mess you'd find in 'Seven'. Performances are first-rate, though there is occasionally a disturbing lack of characterization. This is particularly a concern for Foster's character, as she is, theoretically, the protagonist, but proves to be pretty flat, and didn't really draw any particular sympathy from me. And the kid, ooh the kid is just as annoying as hell. By the end of the film Forest Whitaker's Burnham, one of the robbers, proves to be by far the most interesting and sympathetic character of the bunch. This allows us to sympathize with someone, I suppose, which is nice, but for much of the film I was interested in what was going to happen, but I didn't especially *care*. A wide variety of results would've been acceptable. The film does do a nice job of slowly revealing the true nature of the characters as we move along, but this does mean that they start out pretty faceless.

Thinking back I have a hard time remembering the particular flow of events in the film. It is, again, a bit more plausible than your average thriller, and most of the events flow into one another smoothly enough that it seems like a fairly continuous whole. It's harder to dissect and pick apart in my mind, which might make it hold up better on repeated viewings.

That's about it, I guess. The DVD looks very nice, as you'd expect for a Superbit one. Again, I dunno if this is the sorta movie that's gonna impact anyone terribly, but it's done with enough panache and professionalism that it proves very watchable, and I'll no doubt pull it out for another viewing every once in a while.

Grade: B+

Jodie Foster yet again does not fail to give us an outstanding performance in this gripping thriller. The film centers around Meg ( Foster ) and her young daughter Sarah. They live in New York following Meg's divorce. In their home is a hidden room built to provide safety for in case of a break in. Well, the unimaginable happens when 3 intruders break into the home in search of something very valueable to them that was left behind by the previous homeowners. Meg and her daughter must now fight for their lives while hidding in their Panic Room. This is a edge of your seat thriller as you see what a mother will do to save not only herself but her sick daughter. Great story and good performances with some violence. I'd suggest anyone who has not seen this movie, rent it for if you like good thrillers, this movie won't disappoint. Jodie Foster gives this movie a extra star with her great performance.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The story line was stupid. I couldnt get thru the movie without falling asleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Jody. Jody. Jody. What were you thinking??? Did you even read the script? Did you just need the cash to build an addition onto your house because you TOTALLY betrayed your smartypants kick-ass self with this horrid piece of film. Horrifically bad acting by everyone involved, which might be because the writer gave them such drivel with which to work. Ohmigosh this movie is pure dreck. No person should ever pay to watch a movie where a 10-year old gets hit in the face with a closed fist -- this is entertainment? An absolute catastrophe of a film on all levels. Avoid.

I'm reluctant to make lengthy comments on films about which hundreds of others have already posted, it seems like a waste of time, so I will just make a few observations about "Panic Room".

The most important thing was that it instantly pulled me in and took me for a ride for the entire two hours. That does not happen often, particularly for a film that I was late seeing and about which I therefore had tons of preconceived notions. I was pleased with how well they established the basic premise of the film at the beginning, something that had seemed silly in the trailers was perfectly credible in the actual film. The $95 Million U.S. box office must have happened from word-of-mouth because the trailer simply does not do the film justice.

There were only minor plot holes, although the lame way that Meg and her daughter initially get into the panic room almost derails the whole thing. And I still find it inconceivable that $48 Million had to be spent on what is really a very small film. Since so little of the budget ever makes it onto the screen they would have been better served with the creative incentive of a smaller budget.

Nicole Kidman was originally cast to play Meg but hurt her knee and had to drop out. I don't think they lost anything by bringing in Jodie Foster, I can't imagine Kidman doing any better, Meg's kind of brainy stubborn scrapper is Foster's specialty. And she is much better from a physical casting perspective, as Kristen Stewart looks like she could actually be Foster's daughter. In fact, there were more that a few times when I momentarily got the two of them confused. This was very appropriate because "Panic Room's" heroines are not the usual film-fare mother and daughter (one strong and one weak), but rather a "like mother-like daughter" situation. I think Stewart has a great future in films (see "Speak" for a example of her ability to carry a whole feature) and it was nice that she got a chance so early in her career to work closely with Foster.

I was particularly impressed with the pacing of this story and its similarity to chess masters hiding one line of attack inside another. The battle progresses much like a chess match, as pieces are lost the layout becomes less familiar and the alternatives fewer. As the two sides use up resources and get sucked in deeper, their earlier choices limit the choices that are available to them. This chess-like process holds until the very end of the film.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BELOVED JODIE???? THIS MOVIE IS BY FAR HER WORST ONE... ONLY ENTERTAINING IF YOU'RE ABLE NOT TO THINK [NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY] ABOUT THE PLOT... IF YOU DO YOU WILL FIND IT ILLOGICAL AND FULL OF GAPS.
I MEAN WHO CAN SPEND THOUSANDS OF BUCKS BUILDING A "HOME BUNKER" AND FORGETS TO PUT A POLICE SIREN, OR AT LEAST A CELL PHONE???]

Panic room is a pretty good thriller from David Fincher who has made seven, the game and fight club and if you know those films then you'll expect the same dark and moody atmosphere in this film and I didn't mind since hes a realy good director and knows how to make a nice shot like when he moves the camera all across the room as we see the three burgulars or criminals trying to sneak in the house from outside. The story starts out with Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter Sarah who are staying at their New York apartment that has a special built in panic room, they have just purchased it but unfortunatly thier first night doesn't go to well when three criminals dicide to break in and steal whats inside the panic room. Meg Altman is a newly divorced woman which explains who she can afford an expensive appartment with a panic room, her husband is probably filthy rich. The film was great as it has afew twists and turns as each person is trying to outsmart the other including a scene where the criminals try to gas them out of there. The criminals are played by Forest Witicker, Dwight Yokum and Jared Leto who's character is an idiot basicely. The only flaw with this film was that the criminals seemed like the three stooges and they weren't as intimidating as I thought they were and sometimes it was hard to take them seriously but otherwise it was pretty good and I highly recomend you watch this film.

David Fincher spins gold out of this "B"-movie screenplay. It's a brilliant exercise of technical genius. It's also a brilliant example of true cinema and montage: look at the way Fincher uses his *framing* to tell the story, in addition to the more obvious use of camera movements and cutting.

HOWEVER--if you are here to buy this movie STOP!

Go and get the 3 DVD special edition with hours upon hours of features and commentary. The behind the scenes documentaries take you through all aspects of production, and I can tell you honestly that it is at least as informative as a semester at film school. Fincher's commentary is probably a bit better on Fight Club (get the 2 dvd version, about to be re-released) or on SE7EN (again, snag the 2 DVD edition). But Jodie Foster's commentary is great. Besides, you'll get to see Fincher and his crew in action and that's worth the price of admission alone.

"Panic Room" is like carbon monoxide: odorless and colorless, and completely inoffensive to the victim until it kills.

"Panic Room" is one of those DVDs you see in the rental store on Friday and decide to try out; a week later you can't remember what you saw, exactly. See? Just like carbon monoxide, the movie slaughters two of your finite hours on Planet Earth that you could have been using more enjoyably.

Yes, this is a locked-room mystery, where the locked-room in question is a high-tech secret chamber located in an Upper Eastside Manhattan townhouse, and where the mystery is why a normally gifted, edgy director like David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club) would direct a boring, colorless clunker like this.

Jodie Foster plays Meg Altman, a divorcee who with her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart, who has three modes: sullen, smirking, and sick) moves into a multi-million dollar New York townhouse. Mother and daughter discuss their mutual disdain for the new digs, eat a pizza, and fall asleep.

Now: it's fortunate Jodie toys with the high-tech Panic Room before turning in, because---wouldn't ya know it---along come three villains with the vilest of intentions. Talk about a bad first night in the new pad!

It turns out the trio of thugs want the fortune stowed in the panic room by the townhouses's previous owner, and in their bumbling they manage to alert mom and daughter, who scuttle into the little fortress-within-a-fortress. So what you end up with is a 2 hour+ siege movie. Siege movies can be great, or they can be tedious; this movie takes the latter path and with, evidently, no regrets.

It doesn't help that two of the three villains are pretty much out for the count when they realize they have to take on real live people holed up in the panic room. Dwight Yoakum plays Raoul, who is the real deal, a determined psycho if there ever was one, and he rallies his team's flagging spirits and the three determine to beg, borrow or steal their way into the high-tech little broom closet.

And that's pretty much it. The much-touted CGI enhancement of camera movements in the townhouse is fine, and this is a technically competent movie. It's also a massively boring movie, and imminently forgettable; everything here has been done before, far more masterfully, in an underrated little gem called "Wait Until Dark". Everyone in "Panic Room" seems bored, and it's a contagious emotion, because by the conclusion you'll be bored too.

Jodie Foster plays Jodie Foster, who toys with claustrophobia for about 5 minutes but tosses that potentially intereting plot device aside as soon as the going gets tough. She turned down a reprisal of the Clarisse Starling role in "Hannibal" for this?

The incomparable and talented Jared Leto ("American Psycho", "Requiem for a Dream")tries to liven up the dull proceedings, and gets a bullet in the head for his efforts. Forest Whitaker cashes a check, and Dwight Yoakum, unrecognizable until the credits, plays the sleepiest psycho in cinematic history.

If you're fine wasting two hours of your life on a dead, dull, dismal, and oddly colorless siege movie, then by all means rent "Panic Room." My advice: spend the time going through a brochure to build a panic room of your own---at least you'll get something out of *that* ordeal.

JSG

Jodie Foster stars in this amazing thriller from director David Fincher (the director of Fight Club and Seven). Foster plays a divorced mother living with her daughter and they move into a large mansion in New York. But, unfortunately, while there, 3 robbers invade the house, as they didn't know that anyone was moved into the house. Foster's character and her daughter hide themselves in a "panic room", which no one else can get in after the door is closed because the door is so heavily reinforced. But, what the robbers want is in that room, so they will do everything possible to get in. It's a good thriller with some very suspensful moments, but if you're looking for lots of scares, this probably isn't it. It has some funny moments and some great action scenes that are memorable. Foster acts great in the film as does Forest Whitaker, who plays one of the robbers. Highly reccomended.

When i rented this movie i thought it was supposed to be a thriller. i didnt know it was supposed to be about people trying to rob and woman and her kid. So the robbers don't know the people are in the house as they break in. when the woman discovers people are in the house, she grabs her daughter and they run in the panic room. But what they don't know is what the robbers want is in the panic room. it is a very good movie with good action, and some funny moments. i recommend the rent.

It's actually kind of remarkable that David Fincher has never made an outright terrible movie. Yeah he did do Alien 3 but in all fairness: with a nagging studio, production problems and an incomplete script, it's surprising there's something at least watchable with Alien 3, particularly its "Assembly Cut". But for every great film from Seven to Fight Club to Zodiac, we have the pretty good films such as the Game and this one. They're not as highly regarded but they're still fun entertainment and worth a watch, even if there's nothing to be gained from watching except for a good time.

Meg and her daughter Sarah have just moved into a new house in New York. It's pretty big (maybe a bit TOO big) and it has a unique feature: a panic room, which has steel plating for walls, video surveillance system and a phone line not connected to the house's main line. It's the perfect place for a family to be safe when people try to break in. Of course that's what happens on the first night as 3 thieves: Junior, Raoul and Bernham show up and rather than wanting Meg's things, they want what's inside the panic room. The film then becomes a game of cat and mouse as Meg has to somehow outwit 3 robbers who want in.

It's often been said that a script in the hands of a talented director can be a great film regardless of the thinner qualities of the script. No more is this evident in Panic Room which had anyone else directed (or at least, anyone who's a hack) it would've been awful. Sure there's not a lot to the script and you can tell screenwriter David Koepp threw as much as he could to give characters to do but damn if it doesn't work. To keep things interesting, Fincher uses a lot of computer assisted camera moves to keep things flowing with one of the best being a long take as the robbers initially start to inspect the house. Some work while others, such as going inside a lightbulb filament seem kind of unnecessary like it was a means to be playful.

Acting-wise we have Jodie Foster who plays a great Meg; someone who's not an action superstar but is more than capable when she has to be. Kristin Stewart, who in my opinion, was the only thing that made the Messengers watchable plays the daughter Sarah and she's also quite good here. The 3 robbers played by Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker and Dwight Yoakam are quite a fun team to watch but have enough menace for Meg to fight with, particularly Yoakam who's quite the crazy bugger and probably also has one of the better entrances when you finally see his face since he had a ski mask a good chunk of the movie.

One might find it odd that a film like Panic Room, which is essentially a superbly made B-movie, has tons of special features, even moreso than Seven or Panic Room's. We have director's commentary, star commentary with Foster, Yoakam and Whitaker who are also directors and a screenwriter's commentary. Then we get behind the scenes looks at the making of the film to featurettes on pre-visualization to the special effects shots one by one. Some discs are packed with stuff but seem kind of light and you could get through them in one afternoon; here it's kind of daunting.

This isn't Seven or Panic Room but then again this ain't no Alien 3. It's entertainment for the sake of entertainment and considering how well it works (for some anyway), that's more than enough for a watch.

A very good cast with a very unique director on how the direction goes with each character in the movie. Nicole Kidman was suppose to play the star role, but with her injury in Moulin Rouge, Fincher asked Jodie Foster to do it and I heard she didn't really want to play this role, but after watching the making of it on the bonus DVD's, she was really looking forward to it...I had to re-purchase this movie though in the 3-Disc Special Edition though once I found out that Columbia re-released it...Which is very much worth it if anybody owns the 2-Disc Collector's Edition of Fight Club which I thought was out of print, but found about 8 copies of it at a Best Buy location. Panic Room being a movie about home invasion and what the three men want (Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, & Dwight Yoakum) are in the panic room and Foster and her kid (Kristen Stewart) do not let them in. The three men begin to find their own ways to get into the panic room, using a small gas tank and gas them out to just giving them the finger on camera and cussing at them from outside. Their situation gets more horrifying when Foster's husband in the movie visits them after a frightening phone call. He gets beaten to death on camera while Foster and her kid watches painfully. The tragic ending involves two of the men dead and one escaping with the money that was hidden in the floor panel of the panic room. Foster and her kid find a new place in New York City. Fincher made a great MAZE of a movie in this dark movie of home invasion. This one is a must if you enjoyed his previous hits such as FIGH CLUB, SE7EN, & ALIEN 3 if you liked it. *shrug*