Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, just not that special
Review: This has just about everything in place as far as expectations going into the movie. A major star, some recognizable minor stars, a good director, a good premise. This is the story of a recently separated mother and teenage daughter who buy what has to be a multi-million dollar residence in Manhattan. It is equipped with something called a "Panic Room", which is a fortified room in the middle of the house to protect the inhabitants from home invaders. The fact that the Panic Room gets a workout right away is the plot of the film. This film has a lot of things going for it, but doesn't offer us anything that special. On the good side, we get a trio of believable bad guys of varying degrees of badness. We get to see Jodie Foster thinking of how to get out of a nasty situation, which reminds us a bit of dueling Buffalo Bob in a dark house in that "Lamb" movie. And we get some plot twists that force here to actually make a truce with the bad guys at a crucial moment. It's just that there's nothing that is that special. I suppose if you have a movie called "Panic Room", which has a Panic Room, you should use the Panic Room. Coincidently, they need it on their very first night, which is necessary to the plot, as the fact that it isn't all hooked up properly makes in only a marginally effective device. And there is a problem with one of the bad guys not being as bad as the other bad guys. You just know this will be the one that will be turned to for help, and it's so obvious I'm not really revealing anything here. Finally, why have all the tensions when the final act to solve the issue would have solved it no matter when it came. Worth a viewing, but not a keeper.
Rating: 
Summary: Unrealistic and Flawed Plot
Review: The only good thing about this DVD is the acting of Jodie Foster. This DVD is a true bomb. The kid acts fairly well, but the rest of the cast borderlines on camp. There are just too many incidents when Jodie Foster could have taken more realistic measures to save herself and her family, but instead chose to do something stupid, like not to seek help outside, not to use the gun herself and not inform the police when opportunity prevailed.Some suspense and clever camerawork, but mostly predictable. This suspense drama proves to be almost comical and ridiculous to the point of frustration. The almost 2 hours could have been cut in half and this would still bomb.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The movie starts interesting but but a couple of mistakes make it sense-less. I was very disappointed. Do not buy. My advice is rent it. That way you will only spend (...) instead of (...) on a movie you probably won't care to see again.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid Thriller
Review: Ah...Jodie Foster. She's a rare thing in Hollywood, a brilliant actress who knows how to pick great roles. Even as a child actress she delivered some great performances, the most memorable in Scorsese's Taxi Driver. In Panic Room, she solidifies her position as one of Hollywood's most gifted actresses. The thing that makes Panic Room so intriguing is the atmosphere of the film. It is dank, dark, and absolutely claustrophobic. Foster, a rich divorcee, moves into a stately Manhattan townhouse with her daughter. The shadowy mansion sports an intriguing addition, a Panic Room. It's a secure room that one can flee to when in danger. The room gets a workout on the first night, as a team of three criminals breaks into the house in search of the prior owners hidden riches. A storm rages outside, adding to the cramped feeling of the shooting, a small stage for some really intense scenes. Besides Jodie Foster's commanding role, Forest Whittaker gives a good performance as one of the criminals. He is conflicted, a non violent man in the company of two aggressive criminals, most notably a masked psychopath known as Raoul. Throught out the movie, the two teams in the deadly game play each other like sides in a chess game. It turns out the money the criminals want is in the Panic Room. It's just an intense drama, with engenious moves by both sides. The intensity builds and builds until the last half hour or so, which is near breathtaking. Some of the scenes just make you cringe. I really liked it and would recommend it to anyone looking for an exciting movie with quality acting.
Rating:
Summary: it could have been a contender!
Review: I really wanted to love this movie as much as I did Fight Club and Se7en, but beneath the great directing and decent acting you'll just be amazed at how little there actually is to this movie. Aside from a handful of odd character traits, this seems like a cookie-cutter action/drama, and not much else to it. Great taste, less filling. As I said, I am a fan of David Fincher, but I gotta say this is not how I would have followed up Fight Club.
Rating:
Summary: Eh
Review: Well. Um. What we have here is David Fincher's weakest film. Partly due to the fact that David Koepp's screenplay takes a simple premise and writes it simply -- with what seems like as little effort as possible. It moves. Jody Foster and Forest Wittaker do their job well here, as do the other actors to a lesser extent, but the movie's nothing special. It's something to stick in the dvd player on a Friday night if you've already seen all the really good movies released lately. But it does, of course, have Fincher's normal visual flair, which is sort of entertaining in and of itself. The camera work is great. So if you want to want a fast-moving movie that doesn't make you think, you could do worse. However, if you want to see something that makes you think, if you want something on the level of FIGHT CLUB or SEVEN, well, go someplace else.
Rating: 
Summary: This is one of the best thrillers ever!
Review: It's great to see Jodie Foster in Panic Room [;-)] and not in Hannibal [;-(], because Panic Room is much better and one of the best thrillers I've ever seen. So, I read some 3 Star-Reviews, and they said Panic Room is a good thriller, but compared with Fight Club and Seven it is a major let-down. Well, I think this critics are stupid, because Panic Room is a THRILLER and not a study about People. It is a great suspense thriller with many twists, superb acting and wonderful camera work. The ending could be better. There is no surprise. Fight Club(Schizophrenia), Seven(Gwyneth Paltrows head), The Game(the whole story was a game) and Alien 3 (Ripleys suicide) had a surprising ending, but Panic Room? No. I expected the sweetheart from Meg Altmans ex-husband comissions the robbers, but I was wrong. But it's okay, I've seen worse endings.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad But Not Good
Review: An Okay movie, I thought it would be much better, the DVD uses superbit so the picture is excellent, really no special features, but who cares I never mess with the special features anyway. The acting was pretty good, plot was okay, a flaw in this movie was the cursing and swearing, Jared Leto disappoints me in this movie, he uses the word ... every other word, this movie may not be appropriate for kids. It's worth checking out, I had high hopes for the movie but I was disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Top-Notch Action Drama
Review: The two best things that can be said about this movie are:
#1 The Performances. Jodie Foster's in paticular. She brings great depth to her character of a single mom who's as tough-as-nails.
Her daughter also is terrific. Just a tough as her mom and you get the impression that they really could be mother and daughter in real life. Forest Whitaker leads the trio of robbers who for some reason have to get into the panic room where Jodie Foster's character and her daughter hide while waiting for the trio to depart, which they don't intend on doing. Their performances are all more than credible with Dwight Yokam playing a mysterious robber who ends up taking control of trying to get into the room.
#2 The Direction. David Fincher surely does some of his best work here and it is so cool to see the camera zooming into an object then coming out on the other side.
Case-in-point: At one particular scene the camera zooms into the keyhole in the knob of a door, coming out on the other side. Another has the camera going through an exhaust fan and coming out in a different room. This creates for quite a thrilling sensation.
The story itself is good, a simple enough plot pieced together and while it is quite predictable, it is also a lot of fun just watching it unfold. The ending is twisty enough, and one paticular event even caught me off guard a bit.
Let your curiousity give in and experience the 'Panic Room'!
Rating:
Summary: Predictable
Review: Jodie Foster, as usual, is terrific and the only reason to watch. She just needs meatier roles. This one is very predictable from the moment she and her daughter tour the place. I wish, just once, this type of movie would go off in another direction but, of course, it does not. The perpertrators are so bland and typical that I was thinking of the thugs in "Home Alone" trying to be serious. Did not recognize Dwight Yokum. The dialog and circumstances have been seen many times before and with much better results. If you have nothing else to watch, then do so. Otherwise, do not confine yourself to the same old thing.
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