Panic Room

Infobox Film
name = Panic Room


image_size =
caption = Theatrical poster
director = David Fincher
producer = Ceán Chaffin
Judy Hofflund
David Koepp
Gavin Polone
writer = David Koepp
narrator =
starring = Jodie Foster
Kristen Stewart
Forest Whitaker
Dwight Yoakam
Jared Leto
music = Howard Shore
cinematography = Conrad W. Hall
Darius Khondji
editing = James Haygood
Angus Wall
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = March 29, 2002
runtime = 112 minutes
country = USA
language = English
budget = $48,000,000
gross = $196,397,415
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/panicroom/
amg_id = 1:259522
imdb_id = 0258000

"Panic Room" is a 2002 thriller film directed by David Fincher, and starring Jodie Foster and Forest Whitaker. It also stars Jared Leto, Dwight Yoakam, and Kristen Stewart. The film tells a story of a mother and a daughter hiding in a panic room during an invasion by three armed robbers who aimed at millions of dollars stored in the house. The tale expresses strong moral themes.

Plot

Meg Altman (Foster), a woman, recently divorced from the owner of a pharmaceutical giant and her 12-year-old daughter Sarah (Stewart) who suffers from Type 1 diabetes are looking for a place to stay following the divorce. A four-story townhouse that was previously owned by a disabled reclusive millionaire. It has a panic room, an isolated room protected by a four-inch-thick steel door and an impressive security system, and features a separate phone line.

On the night the two move into the home, it is broken into by Junior (Leto), the grandson of the previous owner, and Burnham (Whitaker), an employee of the security company used by the residence. The two are after $3 million in bearer bonds, which is locked inside a floor safe in the panic room. Unknown to Burnham until after they've broken in, Junior has recruited Raoul (Yoakam), a bus driver who lives in Flatbush, to assist in the heist.

After discovering that the Altmans have moved into the home one week before they anticipated, the burglars decide to go on as planned with the heist. However, Meg wakes up and discovers the intruders from the CCTV monitors in the panic room when she wanted to switch off its glaring light. Before the three can stop her, she runs to Sarah, wakes her, and they escape to the panic room.

The Altmans make several attempts to call for help, including signaling a nearby neighbour with a flashlight (who they can only see from the opening of a water pipe) and tapping into the main telephone line to call for help (because Meg has not yet hooked up the panic room's phone). Only one works; the two get through to Meg's husband and Sarah's father, Stephen, before the burglars cut them off. To make matters worse, Sarah collapses due to hypoglycaemia caused by her diabetes and unfortunately the glucagon injections are in the refrigerator.

When all attempts to get into the room fail, Junior lets it slip that there is much more money in the panic room than he let on, and gives up. Burnham and Raoul find out that the bonds are actually worth $22 million. Upon trying to leave the house, Junior is shot in the head by Raoul. Stephen Altman arrives at the home and is then taken hostage by Raoul and Burnham. Raoul severely beats him. They then use the unconscious Altman to trick Meg (who is desperate to get the glucagon injections for Sarah) into momentarily exiting the panic room. Raoul ambushes her and a brief struggle ensues which ultimately results in Raoul and Burnham becoming trapped in the panic room with the critical Sarah, and Meg outside with Raoul's gun. However Meg was able to throw in the glucagon syringe in time and begs the two intruders over the intercom to give Sarah the injection, which Burnham, being the more humane of the two, later does.

However, two police patrolmen arrive, having received Altman's call earlier. With Sarah trapped with the two burglars, and Raoul threatening to kill her, Meg lies to the officers. Meanwhile, Burnham gets to work on the safe and obtains the bearer bonds. As the duo attempt to leave while using Sarah as a hostage, Meg and the badly injured Altman attack them. After an intense struggle, Burnham flees while Raoul prepares to kill Meg with a sledgehammer. However, upon hearing Sarah's screams of panic, Burnham doubles back and kills Raoul, delaying him enough that he gets caught by the police who return as the earlier patrolman was suspicious at Meg's behavior. As they approach, he releases the bonds, letting them fly off into the night and kneels in surrender.

Following the trouble with the home invasion Meg and Sarah begin searching for a new house in the newspaper.

Production and release

Though the movie is set in New York City, in reality it is primarily filmed in Los Angeles, California and released in March 29, 2002. It garnered box office of 95,308,367 USD. [ [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1807776248/details Panic Room - details] . Yahoo film. ]

David Prior, the producer of "Panic Room"'s DVD, noted that the film was the "most elaborate, complex DVD I have yet produced". According to Prior, David Fincher originally conceived "Panic Room" as a low-budget B-film, but during the process it evolved into "a gargantuan undertaking that tested the endurance and tenacity of everyone involved". [ Prior, David. [http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/panicroom/pdiary02.html Panic Room DVD Production Journal] . The Digital Bits. April 5, 2004. ]

Director David Fincher agreed that the film's production was indeed an arduous project, remarking it as a "logistical nightmare". He said that the lighting issue during the filming process was a particular difficulty due to the complexity with the security cameras used in the mansion that send surveillance images to the television in the panic room. [ Collura, Scott. [http://www.mania.com/david-finchers-club_article_33772.html David Fincher's Club] . Mania.com. April 02, 2002. ]

Cast

Actress Nicole Kidman was originally to star in the role of Meg Altman, but had to back out due to a knee injury she sustained during the filming of "Moulin Rouge!". [Angulo, Sandra P. and Justine Elias. [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,96904,00.html Nicole Kidman drops out of "The Panic Room"] . Entertainment Weekly. Jan 26, 2001] However, she did add her voice to the movie portraying Steven Altman's girlfriend and talking with Meg Altman on the phone.

Maynard James Keenan of the rock band Tool was in passing offered the role of Raoul, by the director, but nothing came of it. [ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0258000/trivia Panic Room] . IMDB.]

Reception

The film receives 76% positive reviews from the reviewers affiliated with the website Rotten Tomatoes, and the site's "consensus" commented the film as a "well-crafted, above-average thriller". [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Panic_Room_%28film%29&action=edit&section=3 Panic Room] , Rotten Tomatoes.] Roger Ebert gave "Panic Room" a three out of four stars rating, indicating a mildly positive opinion. [Ebert, Roger. [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020329/REVIEWS/203290304/1023 Panic Room] . March 29, 2002.]

Jodie Foster was nominated for the 2003 Saturn Award Best Actress for her role as Meg Altman, but did not win. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258000/awards Awards -- Panic Room] . IMDB. ]

Score

The film's score was released in 16 April 2002 on Varese Sarabande records. The album contains nine cues, running 30:09.
# "Main Titles"
# "Caution - Flammable"
# "Working Elevator"
# "Fourth Floor Hallway"
# "Locking Us In"
# "Castle Keep"
# "What We Want is in That Room"
# "Zone 19 Disabled"
# "A Very Emotional Property"

Howard Shore, the Canadian composer known for the scores of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, composed and conducted the score. It was a smaller project undertaken by Shore shortly after completion of "The Lord of the Rings" scores, and was remarked to be one of Shore's "darkest, most brooding thrillers". [ [http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/panic_room.html Panic Room] . Filmtracks. ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/panicroom/ Official website]
*
*
*
* [http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,6737,689769,00.html "Guardian" interview with Fincher]