p1phillips
10-16-2002, 12:34 AM
This movie just got released on DVD in Australia, so I eagerly rented it after reading several positive reviews and hearing great things about it from my friends. Well, my sister and I saw it and we weren't overly impressed by it.
I admit I'm not much of a fan at all of David Fincher. I really enjoyed Fight Club, but I disliked Alien 3, Seven and The Game. So in Panic Room I felt he was WAY overdoing it as a director. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS For example, in the scene where Jodie Foster leaves the room to grab the cellphone, Fincher plays it in slow motion with muted, distorted sound. It completely drained a potentially tense scene of any suspense whatsoever! END OF SPOILERS. Many other scenes involved the camera travelling through walls, floors and keyholes etc. While inventive, it got amazingly repetitive - just tell the damn story already! Then, we get to the ending, which really peeved me. Obviously, there are SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS here....but at the end when Forest Whitaker comes back and saves Jodie Foster from getting her face smashed in, I just couldn't believe it! We sat through all that just for one of the tormentors to come back and save the day? What a freaking cop-out! It's like Michael Myers saying to Jamie Lee Curtis: "okay, you can go now. have a nice day". One of the most important aspects of any thriller IMO, is that the protagonist/s have an obstacle to overcome, namely surviving the "evil threat". The suspense comes from knowing they can rely on nobody but themselves to get past the obstacle. Panic Room blew this big time. Forest Whitaker's character was badly defined anyway: "okay, let's gas them, but don't use too much gas!" END OF SPOILERS
So, I was highly, highly disappointed with this movie. A distinct pattern emerged: Jodie and daughter would try to save themselves....robbers would bicker....Jodie and daughter try to find a way out....robbers would bicker....etc.
I know this movie was loved by LOTS of people, so I don't expect anybody to agree with me, but I just HAD to get that off my chest!!
I admit I'm not much of a fan at all of David Fincher. I really enjoyed Fight Club, but I disliked Alien 3, Seven and The Game. So in Panic Room I felt he was WAY overdoing it as a director. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS For example, in the scene where Jodie Foster leaves the room to grab the cellphone, Fincher plays it in slow motion with muted, distorted sound. It completely drained a potentially tense scene of any suspense whatsoever! END OF SPOILERS. Many other scenes involved the camera travelling through walls, floors and keyholes etc. While inventive, it got amazingly repetitive - just tell the damn story already! Then, we get to the ending, which really peeved me. Obviously, there are SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS here....but at the end when Forest Whitaker comes back and saves Jodie Foster from getting her face smashed in, I just couldn't believe it! We sat through all that just for one of the tormentors to come back and save the day? What a freaking cop-out! It's like Michael Myers saying to Jamie Lee Curtis: "okay, you can go now. have a nice day". One of the most important aspects of any thriller IMO, is that the protagonist/s have an obstacle to overcome, namely surviving the "evil threat". The suspense comes from knowing they can rely on nobody but themselves to get past the obstacle. Panic Room blew this big time. Forest Whitaker's character was badly defined anyway: "okay, let's gas them, but don't use too much gas!" END OF SPOILERS
So, I was highly, highly disappointed with this movie. A distinct pattern emerged: Jodie and daughter would try to save themselves....robbers would bicker....Jodie and daughter try to find a way out....robbers would bicker....etc.
I know this movie was loved by LOTS of people, so I don't expect anybody to agree with me, but I just HAD to get that off my chest!!