panic room

[soixante]

Just saw Panic Room on DVD. It has an interesting premise, and I liked the first hour, but then...there were problems for me. For example, Jodie Foster's daughter gets stuck in the panic room with Whitaker and Yoakum, which is a pretty good situation, since she's diabetic. But what do these ruthless criminals do? They give her the insulin shots she needs. Boy, what great villains.
Also, the cops show up -- rather late. I think these guys would show up sooner, since something is obviously going on in this house. Plus, it's before dawn. Don't these cops have anything better to do? Especially if some rich person's house is getting invaded -- NYPD would be there in a second. Then, Yoakum gets slammed in the head with a sledgehammer. But of course, he's not really dead -- in the tradition of 80's slashers like Jason, he COMES BACK! Please. Then, near the end, Forest Whitaker is about to exit the premises -- but he decides to go back and save Jodie Foster from Dwight Yoakum. What a nice guy! Then, he gets arrested, and does Jodie Foster try to put in a good word for him, since he saved everyone's lives? Of course not.

[Sola]

but he decides to go back and save Jodie Foster from Dwight Yoakum

haha...that sounds pretty funny.

[SinjinSB]

And just for the record, Propane is heavier than air and would collect at the bottom of the room, not the top!! I'm sure a high percantage of people won't notice that in the scene, but it's those blantant mistakes that bother me. Because either someone didn't do their homework which is sloppy, or they figured the audience is too ignorant to know the difference and that insults me. That's actually the thing about the movie that bothered me the most.

[casey_choas66]

I happened to like Panic Room a lot, maybe it is because I expect nothing from David Fincher ever since I seen the god awful Fight Club. My main problem with his movies has nothing to do with the story or direction but with how he seems to make everyone one screen comparable to human slime. He did it with Alien 3, he did it with Fight Club, he did it with the game and he did it here, I find it rather hard to feel sorry for his characters because they are all trashy, I sure hope he doesn't do that when he directs Mission IMpossible 3

[SinjinSB]

Originally posted by casey_choas66
I happened to like Panic Room a lot, maybe it is because I expect nothing from David Fincher ever since I seen the god awful Fight Club. My main problem with his movies has nothing to do with the story or direction but with how he seems to make everyone one screen comparable to human slime. He did it with Alien 3, he did it with Fight Club, he did it with the game and he did it here, I find it rather hard to feel sorry for his characters because they are all trashy, I sure hope he doesn't do that when he directs Mission IMpossible 3
Just curious, what did you find trashy about Jodie Foster and her daughter? I thought the were pretty normal people just trying to survive an unprovoked attack.

[casey_choas66]

OK yes that is true but the envirnment that they were put into had a very trashy feel and all the criminals were very trashy it was like she was stuck in this world of all dirty people and it gave them that feel as well.

[SinjinSB]

Originally posted by casey_choas66
OK yes that is true but the envirnment that they were put into had a very trashy feel and all the criminals were very trashy it was like she was stuck in this world of all dirty people and it gave them that feel as well.
No worries. I just didn't take it that way. For me they were innocents, who through no fault of their own, were put in a trashy situation and did what they had to in order to survive so they could escape the trashy situation. I like hearing others opinins though. Thanks.

[fermented]

Perhaps I didn't like Panic Room because I was expecting more out of Fincher along the style of Fight Club which I happened to think was great, but there were some other things that bothered me.

First of all, I was rather unhappy because one of the main premises in the film that they "want what's in that room," turns out to be nothing more than money. A lot of money, but I was rather hoping for something a little more, I dunno, surprising. Or interesting. (OK, it wasn't money, it was bonds or something I think, I don't remember) I didn't mind the fact that the robbers were actually sympathetic, it makes them seem like humans who just want a shitload of money.

The sledgehammer bugged me, yes. But a lot of it seemed just like a typical suspense movie, and I did a fairly good prediction job after they got trapped in the room (what with the cell phone and the sneaking around and stuff).

The daughter seemed to me to be a rather extraneous character, serving only as a plot device for "Ooooh, she's going to get stuck in that room... ooooh, she might die unless she gets her shots, oooooh... I don't think she really served any other purpose.

The last thing, though, is that the movie should have ended with the police arresting the black guy with the papers swirling about in the breeze. When that scene came up, I was about to get up. And then that whole business with searching for a new house... that was just dumb. For me, it ruined what could have been a great closing point for the film and dragged it out farther than it needed. Considering that that was what I walked away with, it's no wonder I have a negative view of the film.

I did like the opening credits, though.

[casey_choas66]

You may be correct in your critisim but the fact that made this film so great is that it knew what it wanted to achive. I can honsetly say that Fight Club was one of the worst films I have ever seen maybe because it could have had something to say but failed horribly or maybe because it was just plain done back but the fact is that it was nothing more than a half assed attempt at David Lynch. This film knows that it is a thriller and knows that it doesn't need to say anything to be enjoyable it is just here to create some suspense and give some people a few shocks on a rainy weekend. Also I felt that this film did a wonderful job of seperating the villians from the good guys. In many films, including Fight Club, it seems hard to determine who you should be rooting for but this film makes it clear that the bad guys are pure scum and your heart goes out to the good guys. Making this a film that I found myself rather cheering for the good guys than wanting to yell at them for doing stupid things. AIn the scene where Jodie Foster leaves the room to get her phone I was saying to myself 'NO! why would you do that stay in the room you stupid lady." I was sitting on the edge of my seta thinking "come on hurry up just a little bit more and you will make it." That is hard to find in films these days and I thought it made the film much more ffective.