Rent Panic Room (2002)

Excellent Thriller - Panic Room review by GI

This is a tense, sharp crime thriller that it is hard to beat. Director David Fincher has created a wonderful film here with some innovative and exciting use of the camera, which goes into places that are very clever and exciting. Set almost entirely in a Manhattan townhouse the narrative never lets up and the plot is always surprising and keeps the story rattling along at a nerve wracking speed. Jodie Foster is Meg recently separated from her rich husband who moves into a new home with her diabetic daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart). The house has a 'panic room' hidden in the master bedroom. This is a secure room that the residents can hide in if they are attacked. On their first night in their new home three men break in (Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakem & Jared Leto) and Meg and Sarah hide inside the impenetrable panic room. Unfortunately what the three men are after happens to be inside that room and they have to devise a way to get Meg & Sarah to come out. For a story set in a confined space this is remarkably good and Foster is exceptional as the uptight and emotionally vulnerable woman who finds a steely resolve in fending off the three men. A really great film and one that I highly recommend if you've never seen it.