Rating: 
Summary: Die Hard situated in a Manhattan Residence
Review: I actually went to see this film with rather low expectations, but already while watching the extremely cool looking front titles (hovering as integrated parts of the surrounding cityscape) I knew I was going to love this movie.
The setup is at first glance a somewhat thin story about mother (Jodie Foster) and daughter who after divorcing a very wealthy husband moves into a huge Manhattan residence. The apartment which has until recently been inhabited by an old paranoid plutocrat appears to be extremely well equipped including a room less ordinary - the so called "Panic Room" - a room to which the flats inhabitants can withdraw and withstand a burglars siege for over a week - which should be more then enough time for calling the police (from the built-in phone) and get them to take care of the intruders. At first glance mother and daughter don't expect the Panic Room to be of much use, but without spoiling to much I can assure you it will. Unwanted guests stop by and serious troubles begin...
Director David Fincher has brilliantly succeeded in taking a very simple story and transforming it into a great movie of intense action and extreme non-stop claustrophobic tension. Though some of the characters are quite stereotypic both Jodie Foster, Forrest Whitaker and not to forget Kristen Stewart (the daughter) delivers solid acting performances. The cinematography is also pretty cool offering several interesting camera angels including remarkable shots from within keyholes, air ducts and gas pipes.
Rating: 
Summary: A heartstopping tour de force, could be THE film of 2002.
Review: David Fincher could quite possibly be the best director in the world today.
Panic Room is incredible, without doubt the most tense, thrilling and exhilirating movie of this or indeed any year. From the slick and professional opening sequence featuring famous and distinctive images of the Big Apple, you know you are in for a top quality picture.
The casting has been fantastic, if I didn't know better then I'd say Kristen Stewart really was Jodie Foster's daughter. Or clone. The similarities in appearance is obvious but their acting is flawless, both seem genuinely frightened throughout and the chemistry between them is undeniable. The atmosphere when they are in the panic room itself could be cut with a knife, the tension is electric.
David Fincher's immense skill is shown by the awe-inspiring camera work in the opening half hour as Leto/Whitaker try to enter the house, instead of switching angles often, we are kept with one long continuous shot and the tension is heightened.
Howard Shore's awesome score while send a tingle up your spine as you try to guess what will happen next and as you will Foster/Stewart to succeed.
Panic Room is a movie which will effect you in many more ways than you can imagine. A heartstopping rollercoaster thrill ride that doesn't let up once it takes you over entirely and holds you to the edge of your seat. This could be the best two hours which Hollywood brings us this year, you owe it to yourself to indulge in one of the most intense cinematic experiences possible. David Fincher really is getting better and better with each movie, a truly outstanding work, motion picture making of the highest calibre.
Rating:
Summary: The Best 2002 Thriller So Far
Review: Many people asked when the first buzz about "Panic Room" came out, "how good can a movie be about two people stuck in a room?" well, those people didn't know the magic of director David Fincher and the true acting ability of Jodie Foster. "Panic Room" is so far the best thriller of 2002.Meg (Foster), divorced from her husband, and her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) Altman move into a spacious three floor on the West side of New York. The house is too good to be true - huge rooms, an elevator, and a room that is hidden, a panic room. A panic room has a huge steel door which is inpenetrable and is sensored, an entire security camera system to view, seperate phone line, and steel and concrete surrounding the entire area. This looks like a dream come true for the Altman's - until the first night. Three robbers enter: the family man Burnham (Forest Whitaker), the "boss" and talker Junior (Jared Leto) and the stranger Raoul (Dwight Yoakam). They come looking for one thing: money. Money that the previous owner had kept away. Junior says that they're each going to get a million dollars. The one thing the trio does not expect is that there are actual people in the house. Here's where the suspense begins. Howard Shore's score kicks into full effect as Foster and Stewart run to the panic room. This movie is too good to reveal what happens, but it all revolves around the money being in the panic room itself. With such plot twists as Sarah (Stewart) being diabetic and Meg (Foster) being claustraphobic, along with many others, this one kept me at the edge of my seat. David Fincher is one of the most under-rated directors of the period, and Jodie Foster completely pulls out the role as mother/fighter/schemer to a T, and does us all in. A must see and a definate buy on DVD!
Rating: 
Summary: Normal
Review: I wouldn't call this a good movie but at the same time I would not say it was bad. There were some stellar performances that actually kept the movie afloat with a plot line that was a small variation from those "innocent distressed folks striking back". At times the next scene was very predictable. But what helped this movie was the always good performance by Jodie Foster and the stellar performance of Forrest Whitaker, who in my opinion was the best in the movie. Dwight Yoakam turned in a suprise effort, to me, on how he could manage to make his nasty character so believable. Overall this movie will do when there is nothing that may look more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of the best movies to see in a theater.
Review: Panic Room is a movie that you will know if you are going to like based on the opening credits alone: Howard Shore's (who is a god) sets the tone through his awesome score, and David Fincher sets the visuals so well that you're either completely going to love the movie, or wonder why something so craply simple was made. The story and characters are very straight foward, but any viewer should know what they are getting into based on the movie's title alone. Like Hitchcock, Fincher takes a minimilist idea and blows it out of the water: the movie's entire setting is confined in one house, but what the director does visualy creates the most beautiful intensity that has what Fincher has established as a directoral style. This is a movie that will speak to anyone who appericates natural lighting cinematography and direction with excellent performances from everyone, including the kid (who sucsessfuly walked the fine line of being a brat type character, but one you still didn't want to die.) Many people who didn't like The Game complained about its ending, and they probably certainly will on Panic Room... as for me, I loved the anitclimaxtic ending, and thought it fit the tone of the movie perfectly.
Rating: 
Summary: I expected more from David Fincher
Review: Let me start off this review by saying that I originally had absolutely no intentions of watching Panic Room. However, a few weeks after it's release, I learned that the movie was directed by the amazing David Fincher. Being a huge fan of both Seven and Fight Club, probably Fincher's two most successful movies, I decided I could not help but give the movie a chance, despite what appeared to me to be an extremely cheesy concept. The movie was almost exactly what I expected it to be before I discovered David Fincher directed it. However, before I get into the bad things, I will get my positive comments in first: David Fincher's stylish directing edge was clearly visible throughout the movie. From insanely impossible extreme close-ups to a 3-minute part of the movie in which the camera seemed to float around the house in ways that defied the laws of physics, Panic Room was never lacking in visual flair. However, visual flair was about all the movie had going for it. And without a good script or solid concept to back up the crazy camera tricks, the stylin' techniques Fincher applied to the movie felt more like filler then anything else. That isn't to say the acting wasn't well done. Jodie Foster gave a solid performance, and for some reason I always enjoy watching Jared Leto act (Requiem for a Dream, Fight Club). However, the actors simply had nothing to work with. The crazy plot twists usually so invasive in the scripts David Fincher chooses to work with are replaced with hollow shells of twists, such as the always expected "oh wow that guy got killed" surprise, to the mind-numbingly predictable "look at the irony, first we were locked outside and now we are locked inside" so-called "twist." The characters are absolutely forgettable, as if they were pulled out of a catalogue of cliches: the recently divorced mother, the edgy-yet-caring young daughter, the insane criminal, the greedy-yet-sane criminal, and the pushed-into-a-life-of-crime-against-my-will criminal. That's the five characters, and you wont remember a single one of them within a month of watching this movie. While intense at certain moments, I found that most of the time I simply didn't care what happened to the characters in this movie. This movie in no way lives up to David Fincher's past work (unless you count his first movie, the widely-hated Alien 3, which to be perfectly honest I haven't even bothered watching completely), and if you are showing up expecting another Seven or Fight Club, or even another The Game, get ready to be disappointed. Exaggerated one-line review: Panic Room is the worst David Fincher movie I have ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: On edge of seat
Review: I was quite impressed with this film. There was an interesting mix of suspense, humor, compassion, and anger with and for the characters. I found myself trying to give the characters advice, rooting for the underdog, cringing with empathy pain, and cheering for small accomplishments. In my opinion, Jodie Foster does not make a bad movie--she chooses well, and this movie proves it. If you like suspense, and solve-its, you'll really like this one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent thriller that doesn't insult your intelligence
Review: The most interesting thing about this movie was the fact that the movie itself was better than the trailer. The trailer shows a tense 'action' movie. The movie is a clever thriller with occasional bits of action, that assist in moving the story along.
The visual style is excellent, a camera floats about the house, over kitchen tops and through keyholes like a ghost spying on the new tenants but never letting them know hes there.
There are many places where the characters actions are exactly right. By this I mean they do what a real person would do, none of the cliched 'go down into the cellar with a candle when you hear growling coming from it'. Its a bit sad to say that the ideas are clever because they feel genuinely right, but stupidity seems to double up for plot all to often these days. I would really like to point out situations and actions to clarify but watch it yourself.
To sum, a highly entertaining, well acted movie. Good story that doesn't rely on special effects or shock tactics, (allthough there are a few bits that do make you jump).
Rating:
Summary: It's all there if you pay attention...
Review: I really enjoyed this film. The entire premise was revealed in the first 10 minutes, if you paid attention, and I was thinking that this was going to be a formula bore-fest with predictable goings-on and stock good guys & bad guys. I was right about the premise, but in the hands of David Fincher (whom I've admired greatly since "Alien 3" and all subsequent endeavors) the standard becomes quite unique. I consider Jodie Foster to be among the finest living actresses, and she comes through like a pro, as usual. There are certain elements in her portrayal that are gripping. She's having a hard time with the realization that she'd been dumped by hubby for a newer version, trying to understand, as well as showing genuine motherly devotion to her seemingly insensitive daughter (a fine, understated performance by Kristin Stewart...who reminded me of a young Ellen de Generes). After about an hour into the film, I realized that NONE of the 5 main characters had any discernable self-confidence, and these weaknesses added substantially to the resulting hour of the film. Though this could be compared to "Desperate Hours", "Cape Fear" or "Wait Until Dark", the characters in "Panic Room" were less sure of themselves, allowing the audience to identify to a stronger degree. Indeed, Foster's new-found courage (when daughter gets sick) gives her a strength above the others. Forrest Whittaker is best when he plays a nice guy, as he does here (the stock "victim of circumtances"); Dwight Yoakam was strong as the true psychotic in the group, and Jered Leto, with his whining rich-kid, poor put-upon creep, made me want to find him and slap him silly. To have that effect on me made me realize that his performance was really fine. Fincher maintained a solid, steady mood; and the camera-work was reminiscent of the best of Hitchcock, though not quite as subtle. But it's Jodie Foster, with sly nuance and mild double-takes that snaps her out of her funk. It's clever, despite the predictibility of it all, and as the only material Hollywood has to deal with lately are re-hashes of old plots, you could do worse than enjoying the Filmmakers' talents involved in "Panic Room".
Rating:
Summary: Worth the experience...
Review: There was a few David Fencher fans anxiously awaiting the arrival of ~Panic Room~. After the disappointment of 'The Game', we somehow knew that this interesting director would indeed attempt to out due himself, or at least show us that his casting director(s), after the dismal mistake with Michael Douglas, could redeem themselves. Let's face it, with a resume like Jodi Foster, its hard to go wrong, and this certainly was proved in ~Panic Room~. She puts in a grand performance that we've come to expect. This film grabs you from the start - the opening credits are original and quite impressive - so much so, they're worth the price of admission alone. In fact, call me strange, but I wanted to sneak back into the theatre during the second showing to see them again. The camera work is pure art. The planning for each shot shows an attention to detail and seamless quality that does not detract from the viewing. Confined to such a small space over months of shooting, every scene is painstakingly crafted; the editing is tight, which only adds to the suspense. The plot is almost laughably simple, but an excellent scenario in which to get actors and crew to surpass their limits as artists. Fencher surely achieved this end, because everything but the plot itself is superlative. During the first ten minutes of viewing, I kept thinking: in terms of style what does this film remind me of? Hitchcock came to mind. ~Panic Room~ has a 'Vertigo' and 'Rope' feel to it without question. For me, at any rate, this only added to the film's enjoyment.
David Fencher set a new standard with his masterpiece, 'Seven' (another work of art in editing that won an Oscar nomination), which deserved all the acolades it received. But, unfortunately, ~Panic Room~ doesn't quite set a new standard, but more a thriller piece that should please moviegoers interested in this genre of film. A suggestion, do not wait for this film to come out on DVD or video, because it's made for the big screen. And well worth the experience.
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