Panic Room
Panic Room ★★½ 2002 (R)
Recently divorced mom Meg (Foster) moves with daughter Sarah (Stewart) into a huge, ominous four-story brownstone in New York. The house comes equipped with a “panic room” a fortress-like room the paranoid billionaire previous occupant had built. Before the night is over, the room comes into play as three intruders come looking for something. The three happen to be looking for something that's in the room, where the women have holed themselves up. And thus the cat-and-mouse game begins. Fincher's talents for visual style, creative camera work, and squirmy set pieces are well-used here as the tension mounts with each scene. The plot isn't especially original, but the twists are well-done the performers acquit themselves nicely. 112m/C VHS, DVD . US Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam, Jared Leto, Kristen Stewart, Ann Magnuson, Patrick Bauchau, Ian Buchanan, Paul Schulze; D: David Fincher; W: David Koepp; C: Conrad W. Hall, Darius Khondji; M: Howard Shore.