Panic Room (2002) Dir: David Fincher
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When it comes to thrillers, few people do them as well as David Fincher. He's a master of suspense, which is evident to anyone who has seen any of his more famous films. This 2002 thriller is one that perhaps goes a little under the radar, by comparison. It wasn't really on my radar until fairly recently either.
Some of the cinematography was really solid, however, there was one extended sequence, where the camera moves through the house, which was clearly composed of a lot of CGI, even though most of it really did not need to be. It was so obviously fake that I just had to laugh. It really took away from what could've been a very cool looking scene.
As the score began, I felt a sense of familiarity, which was affirmed when I saw that Howard Shore - the man behind the 'Lord Of The Rings' soundtrack. Despite those flecks of familiarity, the score had its own identity, and while it didn't impose on the film at all, it stull quietly complimented it nicely.
Coning into it, I had worried about the simplicity of the narrative, but I think Fincher and writer David Koepp did well to create scenarios and sequences that created conflict and drama within the framework of their story. The suspense of the film was expertly crafted, and kept me hooked just about the whole way through.
Jodie Foster once more showed her acting pedigree, albeit to a lesser extent than some of her best roles. I really enjoyed how she interacted with Stewart - those were her best moments. I'd say, all-in-all, she was the best performer in the film, although I still believe she's done better, particularly in 'The Silence Of The Lambs', which I'm sure surprises no one.
A young Kristen Stewart gave a pretty good account of herself, in what was only her second feature film appearance. There were some scenes where her acting was genuinely quite impressive. Her confidence was clear to see, and she had decent chemistry with Foster.
I've always been quite the fan of Forest Whitaker. He has a sympathetic face, and is often able to portray sympathetic characters very well. This was certainly the case here. He had the strongest individual scenes of anyone, I felt, and the second strongest overall performance.
I didn't really enjoy Dwight Yoakam at first, but some of his acting in the second half of the film was pretty good. That said, he lost a lot of his 'aura' towards the end, which was a shame. Finally, while Jared Leto can be a very annoying presence in films, he was undeniably very good in this film. He had some excellent scenes
Overall, I quote enjoyed watching this. I think some of the character dynamics worked really nicely to create a lot of tension. Furthermore, I felt that the story had enough to it in order to create and sustain plenty of intrigue and suspense too. This isn't my favourite Fincher film, by any means, but it's still a pretty damn good thriller, in my books.
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