Jul. 26, 2002 - 1:02 am

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Panic Room (2002)

well, my friend Colin and i decided we needed to see this one before it went off the big screen. he had not seen it yet, this was my second time. it's one of the best films of the year so far as far as I'm concerned. definitely in the top 5 of those that i've seen anyway. it's another David Fincher film. he also directed Se7en (1995) and Fight Club (1999).

it's about a lady and her 12 year old daughter who buy a huge townhouse in Manhattan. it comes equipped with a panic room. (that's a room where you hide inside your house when people break in. it prevents them from getting to you while the police are on the way to your house. there's no way to break into it from the outside.) the first night they move in, three men come to the house and break in. they thought that Mrs. Altman and her daughter weren't supposed to be there for another week. and so they both have problems to face. it's great though. constant action and very well put together.

i love the cast for this film. first you've got Jodie Foster who doesn't do enough movies. and the actress they chose for her daughter, Kristen Stewart, is perfect. i love her and her character. there's one scene involving her and her illness that's just terrible for me to watch. and then the villains. Jared Leto has his faults, but he's hilarious in this film (even though it's totally not a comedy). Forest Whitaker also helps to add a great complexity to the film as the villain who doesn't want to be a villain. and then there's Dwight Yoakam as Raoul, the most intense of the three. both times i have been to see this film, i have forgotten that this character is actually played by Dwight Yoakam. because he wears a mask for the first two thirds of the film, and then later on when he takes it off he looks sort of chubby and has semi-long black, thinning hair. it just doesn't look like him to me at any point in the film. and it really works. because then i forget all the connotations that go with the name Dwight Yoakam.

interesting. Dwight Yoakam, Jodie Foster, and Forest Whitaker have all directed films of their own.

i also like that they're trying new things with the cinematography here. they've started to combine elements of cgi and actual camera movements. in this manner they can do a crane movement that goes through the floor of a building, move the camera through the 3 inch space between the rails of a bannister, and other such things. sounds like the wave of the future to me. yeah, so this is a great thriller and i'd definitely recommend it. 8/10.