Review: ‘Panic Room’ reminiscent of Hitchcock

Geoff Carter

Friday, March 29, 2002 | 9:26 a.m.

Late in "Panic Room," divorcee Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) sets up some traps for three brutal home invaders. "Why are you doing this?" a character asks. "Because it will come to this," she says, grimly.

The latest film from director David Fincher is pure Hitchcock; after redefining the modern thriller with "Seven," "The Game" and "Fight Club," it's just about time he came to that. There is none of "Seven's" gory violence in "Panic Room," nor the trickery of the latter two films -- and for these omissions, it's the best thriller Fincher's done.

After a beautiful title sequence that pays homage to both "Psycho" and "North by Northwest," Meg and her daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart), move into a three-story brownstone at Central Park West. The previous owner was a paranoid eccentric who was wealthy enough to build a "panic room" in his home -- in essence a steel box with its own phone line and surveillance system.

You can't have a room that cool and cruel in your home and not expect to use it, and on their first night in the house Meg and Sarah are attacked by Burnham (Forest Whitaker), the builder of the room; Raoul (Dwight Yoakam), a standard-issue thug in a ski mask; and Junior (Jared Leto), a dopey kid with some information that could make them all rich.

Panic, as in the title, immediately ensues. Sarah and Meg barricade themselves inside the room, and the home invaders realize that what they need is inside. The resulting cat-and-mouse game is frightening, suspenseful and -- we don't say this much anymore -- startlingly original.

Fincher is one of very few directors working today who can build real suspense using modern tricks. He uses elaborate, computer-assisted shots that literally fly through the house, over and through pieces of furniture and the handles of coffee cups and into keyholes, but locks the camera down inside the Panic Room: Remember, only one of these groups has room to move. When the door slams, you're penned in, too.

Foster gives a wired, raw performance as prey-turning-predator. She does more running in "Panic Room" than she's ever done in her professional career, and does all right by it -- contrary to popular opinion, it's difficult to act and pant at the same time.

Leto invokes Elmore Leonard in his dialouge, and seems to consciously play one of his characters. Yoakam is a sleepy menace, similar to Robert Shaw in "The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three" -- an armed bus driver who becomes scarier than an army of zombies. And an unseen character, Howard Shore's score, nods to Bernard Herrmann and knows when to make itself scarce.

"Panic Room" marks another unique victory for Fincher, and he shares it with everyone involved, including you. Hitchcock would be proud if he could have seen it, and more importantly, he would have flinched at least once.