Panic Room - Special Edition [DVD] [2002]: Amazon.co.uk: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam, Jared Leto, Patrick Bauchau, Ann Magnuson, Ian Buchanan, Andrew Kevin Walker, Paul Schulze, Mel Rodriguez, Richard Conant, Conrad W. Hall, David Fincher, Ceán Chaffin, David Koepp, Gavin Polone, John S. Dorsey, Judy Hofflund: DVD

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Amazon.co.uk Review
An effective exercise in "confined cinema", Panic Room is a finely crafted thriller that ultimately transcends the thinness of its premise. David Koepp's screenplay is basically Wait Until Dark on steroids, so director David Fincher (Seven, The Game) compensates with elaborate CGI-assisted camera moves, jazzing up his visuals.

A relocated New York divorcée (Jodie Foster) and her diabetic daughter (Kristen Stewart) fight for their lives against a trio of tenacious burglars (Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam) in their new Manhattan townhouse. They're safe in a customised, impenetrable "panic room", but the burglars want what's in the room's safe, so mother and daughter (and Koepp and Fincher) must find clever ways to turn the tables and persevere. Suspense and intelligence are admirably maintained, with Foster (who replaced the then-injured Nicole Kidman) relying on her Silence of the Lambs resourcefulness. It's not as viscerally satisfying as Fincher's previous thrillers, but Panic Room definitely holds the viewer's attention. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

DVD Description
Trapped in their New York apartment's "panic room", a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, a newly-divorced woman, Meg Altman, and her young daughter, Sarah, play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with 3 intruders during a brutal home invasion. But what do you do when what they want is in that room?

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Customer Reviews

44 Reviews

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (44 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intense, suspensful thriller, 11 Oct 2003

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Panic Room [DVD] [2002] (DVD)

The Egyptian pharaohs had it right all along; the only way to make your sanctuary, your abode of eternal rest, your panic room truly impregnable and safe is to kill the guys who build it as soon as the job is done. Of course, you can't go around killing construction and security people willy-nilly, and that leads to the kind of situation we find in this movie. When the newly-divorced and emotionally scarred Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) manage to barricade themselves inside their new home's super-nifty panic room, they think they are safe from the three guys who have broken into the house. They are wrong. The paranoid, rich, recently deceased guy who owned the home before the Altmens had millions of dollars hidden inside a safe in that very panic room; these guys know it, and one of them helped build the darn panic room and safe himself. So begins a standoff that never flags in intensity or leaves the viewer more than a few precious seconds in which to come up for air.

Meg, despite her claustrophobic tendencies, proves herself to be quite the clever survivor, engaging the bad guys in a mental chess game of ingenuity, desperation, and the type of bravery that can only come from a parent's instinctual necessity to protect his/her child. It's strange to think that Nicole Kidman was cast to play the role of Meg, bowing out a week or so into the project as a result of some type of injury. As with any Jodie Foster role, I can't imagine anyone else playing this main character. I love Nicole Kidman to death, but I think Jodie was much better suited for the part of Meg. Of course, Jodie can't do everything herself; the movie's overall effectiveness also hinges on the performance of the three bad guys. Jared Leto is quite good in a weasel sort of way, but Dwight Yoakam was quite unconvincing as the cold and hard "Raoul." Luckily, Forest Whitaker more than takes up the slack to give a performance worthy of a Jodie Foster film. He is the proverbial criminal with a conscience, and he plays the role extremely well, thereby churning up some additional emotions and feelings in the audience, creating more conflict in one's hopes of final resolution, and ensuring that the audience remains mesmerized in front of the screen until the credits roll.

The DVD heralds itself as a Superbit DVD, which means it optimizes sound and video at a much more impressive level than normal DVDs. I suppose this only adds to the effectiveness of the unusual camera angles and long camera pans moving from one story of the building to the others in long continuous shots. I'm just a regular movie watcher, though, so I can't tell much difference in Superbit vs. regular DVDs. I do know, albeit rather vaguely, that the Superbit technology works by using extra layers of the DVD to encode more technological whatsits and wossnames, extra layers that are often used for such things as extra features. This helps explain why Panic Room comes with virtually no special features at all, only a trailer for the movie and short filmographies of a few of the actors and filmmakers. Personally, I'd rather have a commentary and miscellaneous goodies. Ultimately, though, this movie is so good that it's really all you need to make you happy. Panic Room is a suspenseful thriller, but it really doesn't make any effort to scare the audience, making this a movie that all sorts of fans can marvel at and enjoy.

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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Fingernail remover!, 28 Nov 2002

By	N. Williams "the_shakermaker" (Hull) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Panic Room [DVD] [2002] (DVD)

How can a movie about two people trapped in a high tech little hovel possibly make a good movie? i hear you cynics cry. Those of you who ask this have clearly not actually seen Panic Room because it is actually one of the best thrillers i have seen for a long time.
The plot concerns a mother and daughter who are placed in a deadly game of cat and mouse when three intruders break into their new home. They decide to hole up in the panic room of the title, an impregnable fortress which unfortunately, is what the three criminals have their sights set on. What follows is two hours of seriously tense thriller as the three criminals try to get the pair out of the panic room, whilst at the same time, it's occupants are trying to find some way to rid themselves of their uninvited guests.
The casting on this film is quite superb and the characters themselves add to the tension. Mother Meg Altman is ably played by Jodie Foster who plays her character very convincingly with a real sense of desperation and fear. Her daughter (played by Kristen Stewart) throws another element into the mix with her illness making her a ticking time bomb trapped with Foster. The three criminals are also superb and their different personalities work excellently together. Burnham (Forrest Whitaker) is the security expert trying to break into his own work and the brains at work to bring the whole thing top a safe conclusion. His efforts are hampered by the mysterious Raoul, who doesn't seem to care and looks constantly intimidating. The criminals are rounded off by Junior (Jared Leto), the kid with visions on a get-rich-quick scheme that quickly turns into something that he finds difficult to handle.
The tension is consistently played up as the 5 characters move about the house coming up with ploys and then there follows a pulse-pounding race by their opposite side to prevent the others plans. It's very intense stuff!
The film itself is typical Fincher fare with some beautifully creative roaming camera work and a very dark atmosphere, but perhaps where this film falls down is in it's DVD form.
These days, any DVD that doesn't appear on 2 discs is shunned and this may be so with Panic Room. It's extras are almost non-existent and it lacks any cast commentaries, outtakes, deleted scenes, or frankly anything of interest.
This package is let down by a lack of DVD bonuses so you may be better off with good old VHS. However, don't let this discourage you from the film itself which is nothing short of stunning, just consider your format carefully.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice idea but needs some better villains., 23 Dec 2006

By	pointone (Bournemouth UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Panic Room [DVD] [2002] (DVD)

Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her diabetic daughter move into a large brownstone house including a panic room implausibly situated adjoining the master bedroom, surely the weight of such a massive steel construction would have to be rooted firmly to the ground, still the plot needs it in a vulnerable position.

This well crafted thriller moves along at a good pace as mother and daughter seal themselves in the panic room whilst three intruders search for something, located of course in the panic room.

The drama is somewhat spoilt by the na�ve incompetence of the gang except for Burnham (Forest Whitaker playing one of his soft centred toughies to perfection), and the odds seemed perversely stacked in favour of the mother and daughter.

Well acted and directed this is a good but not outstanding thriller.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't panic
Panic Room is a very well shot and directed film. A typically excellent performance from Jodie Foster helps to lift this formulaic thriller up a notch or two.

Published 2 months ago by Grant Fitzgerald

5.0 out of 5 stars A different kind of film
This is one of my favourite films. I saw it on tv a couple of years ago and hadn't seen it since until now and I realise upon watching it why I was so hooked the first time. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Victoria Hill

3.0 out of 5 stars great setting and scenario, but executed poorly
Jodie Foster (Silence of the lambs) stars in David Fincher's claustrophobic thriller as Meg, a mother who, along with her daughter Sarah, get trapped inside a panic room whilst... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Stampy

3.0 out of 5 stars Impressive movie, warning about packaging
I've heard rave reviews of this movie from here and others so decided to buy it, and it definately is an impressive move. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Ritzy King

3.0 out of 5 stars HOME ALONE WITH GUNS
The idea was there but the story was PANTS.

Americans have a panic room (i wish i had room for another bedroom) which is a windowless, steel doored room which you... Read more

Published 21 months ago by Nevs

2.0 out of 5 stars A pale imitation of Hitchcock
There are some movies that when you watch them they feel like they were just thrown together for a thrill ride. Jurassic Park III is a perfect example of this. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Mike London

4.0 out of 5 stars Weak Story but Well Directed
David Fincher has never disappointed me - every movie right from "Alien 3" and "The Game" to the more newer "Seven" and "Fight Club" have been excellently directed. Read more

Published 24 months ago by Jay

3.0 out of 5 stars the trailer made it look good
I saw the trailer before i watched this film and i thought that it would be scary so i watched it. I was very disappointed that the criminals were so stupid and un-organised... Read more

Published on 21 April 2007 by The Beast

1.0 out of 5 stars Dull and predictable
Possibly the most overrated film I've ever seen: basically "Home Alone" for an older audience - It's just as amusing to watch, but for all the wrong reasons. Read more

Published on 25 Dec 2006 by M. A. Morgan

4.0 out of 5 stars Extra Panic Required
I'd give the film 3 and a half stars, its an entertaining movie with some good performances from Jodie Foster and Forest Whittaker. Read more

Published on 1 Oct 2006 by S J Buck

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Panic Room - Special Edition [DVD] [2002]

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