Panic Room (2002)

Director: David Fincher
Stars: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker
Runtime: 112 minutes

Synopsis: A mother and her daughter hide in their new house's panic room when 3 burglars break in.

Performances: 8/10
Screenplay: 5/10
Special Effects: N.A.
Costumes/Makeup: 7/10
Editing: 7/10
Cinematography: 6/10
Score/Soundtrack: 7/10

Verdict: "Panic Room" is the only movie directed by David Fincher that I have not seen in the past 3 to 4 years (with "Alien 3", but even he doesn't consider it to be part of his filmography). Fincher being one of my favorite directors working today, I wanted to right this wrong as soon as possible. And I finally did. And I can state with almost certainty that "Panic Room" is probably my least favorite project of his. Now obviously, the film is not a complete disaster, and I found myself enjoying quite a bit of it. The performances are all great, especially Kristen Stewart's as the diabetic daughter who truly made her character three dimensional and likable. The film is pretty well shot for the most part despite some close-ups that I found to be kind of obnoxious, and Howard Shore's score, while definitely not being his best, did the job of adding tension to the movie pretty well. My biggest issue with "Panic Room" was weirdly the script. There are some obvious foreshadows early on that I found irritating, a lot of convenience and exposition scenes, a lot of character decisions that don't make sense and ruin the dynamic of the story, and logic sacrificed for the sake of the narrative. I was surprised that Fincher, who is known to be one of the most meticulous directors working in the industry, didn't take the time to sharpen a script that if done well, could've resulted in a timeless film that would've been remembered for years.   

Final Grade: 6/10