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Panic Room: Superbit
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // September 17, 2002
List Price: $26.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Director David Fincher's films have been complex thrillers that present intelligent characters in richly crafted thrillers. With "Panic Room", the director's dark visual style is taken a step further, but the story itself is certainly the most straightforward and mainstream of Fincher's films. It's also, in my opinion, possibly the director's finest work; not only is the simple premise transformed into a consistently thrilling experience, the lead performance from Jodie Foster (a pregnant Foster replaced an injured Nicole Kidman; as phenomenal an actress as Kidman is, I have a difficult time seeing anyone aside from Foster in this role) is one of her best in recent memory.
The film stars Foster as Meg Altman, who has just divorced from millionare Stephen (Patrick Bauchau). As the picture opens, Meg and her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) decide to move into an enormous mansion in Manhattan, whose sheer size seems to dwarf its new residents. While the place seems to have all the required features, there's one room that's quite different from all the rest - the "panic room", a chamber that is built with steel walls on all sides, offers its own telephone line and even video cameras capturing the entire house.
Soon after, the two settle into the house, confident that they've made the right choice. Unfortunately, they're also confronted - on their first night, no less - with three burglars; Burnham (Forest Whitaker), Junior (Jared Leto), and Raoul (Dwight Yoakam), who want to break in. Although both Meg and her daughter scramble into the panic room, things soon become complicated: what the burglars want is in that room.
Over the course of the night, an intense standoff begins as the two sides try to outsmart one another. While the burglars aren't brilliant, they will stop at nothing to get what they're seeking. In the hands of another director, this could have been an average time-waster, but Fincher's sleek style and David Koepp's occasionally crafty screenplay elevate this considerably above the norm for the genre.
The film, like all of Fincher's projects, is technically stunning. The film's gloomy atmosphere is captured wonderfully by cinematographers Darius Khondji (who left partway through the production) and Conrad W. Hall. In addition, there are remarkable instances of computer-aided cinematography, as the camera manages to move around the house in ways that it otherwise could not. Fincher also supplements the experience with some additional visual tricks and even a great sequence where the sound is cut out almost entirely.
The performances are nearly perfect, especially Foster's. She plays the role masterfully, with a combination of fear, caring, intelligence and adrenaline. Stewart also makes a good impression as her daughter. As the other side, Leto is believably, entertainingly on edge, while Whitaker is excellent as a criminal with heart. Even country star Dwight Yoakam is superb as the quietest of the three who also turns out to be the most psychotic.
Although this was reportedly a fairly troubled production at times, Fincher has succeeded in putting together a fantastic thriller that keeps working up the suspense as it pushes forward. I still think "Panic Room" is one of the year's strongest pictures.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Panic Room" is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen by Columbia/Tristar Home Entertainment. This is a considerably dark picture, often maintaining a level that seems just a few steps away from total darkness. Still, cinematographers Conrad W. Hall and Darius Khondji (Khondji left during production due to creative differences), often capture the house beautifully.
Still, the transfer is dealing with difficult material to clearly capture and, while there are a lot of positives in regards to this presentation, there are also some noticable negatives. Sharpness and detail are about as good as one can expect from a film with this sort of visual style; shadow detail is generally passable, although some scenes can appear considerably dark and lack clarity.
Further issues arise: some slight edge enhancement is infrequently spotted, as is some occasional noise. Print flaws, such as specks and marks, are not seen, though, nor are any instances of pixelation. The film's very minimal color palette looked fairly well-reproduced, with no smearing or other faults.
This is a fairly solid reproduction of how I remember the picture looking when I viewed it theatrically last Winter, but given its "Superbit" status, I was surprised that it wasn't a little more consistent.
SOUND: "Panic Room" is presented in both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 audio on this release, along with a Dolby 2.0 track. Unusual for a "Superbit" title, there's also an additional 2.0 track in French (although apparently Foster does her own dubbing in French).
The film's soundtrack generally delivers on expectations. Surrounds are engaged for some noticable ambient sounds, such as the rain outside or other little touches. Sound effects, such as little whooshes during some of the computer-generated camera movements through the house, are also heard. Additionally, Howard Shore's terrifically tense score is reinforced by the rear speakers.
Audio quality was generally good throughout the show; Shore's score was crisply recorded, rich sounding and appropriately menacing. Most sound effects also were clear and easily heard. However, dialogue is occasionally a weak point in the mix, as it occasionally seemed a bit too quiet, requiring the volume to be raised - only to be lowered once again when the action starts up. Low bass is present on occasion, but never overwhelming. While the soundtrack did have some flaws, it did mostly offer an involving experience.
MENUS: In an odd move, considering animated menus are a "no no" for Superbits, which dump the animated menus to conserve space, there are actually animated main & sub-menus here.
EXTRAS: Ditto for the extras: while Superbits usually dump the supplements to conserve audio/video space, we actually get a teaser trailer and bios here. A special edition may be in the works, although one - or plans for one - have not been announced yet.
Final Thoughts: "Panic Room" is a sleek and often remarkably tense picture that offers superb performances from everyone involved. Columbia/Tristar's DVD is rather disapointing; picture and audio are both good, but each have concerns. I'd also rather not have to wait for a Special Edition of this title, as there's seemingly so much to discuss - both technical and in general - about this production. Still, I found it to be a very well-done picture and recommend the DVD, at least as a rental.
Director David Fincher's films have been complex thrillers that present intelligent characters in richly crafted thrillers. With "Panic Room", the director's dark visual style is taken a step further, but the story itself is certainly the most straightforward and mainstream of Fincher's films. It's also, in my opinion, possibly the director's finest work; not only is the simple premise transformed into a consistently thrilling experience, the lead performance from Jodie Foster (a pregnant Foster replaced an injured Nicole Kidman; as phenomenal an actress as Kidman is, I have a difficult time seeing anyone aside from Foster in this role) is one of her best in recent memory.
The film stars Foster as Meg Altman, who has just divorced from millionare Stephen (Patrick Bauchau). As the picture opens, Meg and her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) decide to move into an enormous mansion in Manhattan, whose sheer size seems to dwarf its new residents. While the place seems to have all the required features, there's one room that's quite different from all the rest - the "panic room", a chamber that is built with steel walls on all sides, offers its own telephone line and even video cameras capturing the entire house.
Soon after, the two settle into the house, confident that they've made the right choice. Unfortunately, they're also confronted - on their first night, no less - with three burglars; Burnham (Forest Whitaker), Junior (Jared Leto), and Raoul (Dwight Yoakam), who want to break in. Although both Meg and her daughter scramble into the panic room, things soon become complicated: what the burglars want is in that room.
Over the course of the night, an intense standoff begins as the two sides try to outsmart one another. While the burglars aren't brilliant, they will stop at nothing to get what they're seeking. In the hands of another director, this could have been an average time-waster, but Fincher's sleek style and David Koepp's occasionally crafty screenplay elevate this considerably above the norm for the genre.
The film, like all of Fincher's projects, is technically stunning. The film's gloomy atmosphere is captured wonderfully by cinematographers Darius Khondji (who left partway through the production) and Conrad W. Hall. In addition, there are remarkable instances of computer-aided cinematography, as the camera manages to move around the house in ways that it otherwise could not. Fincher also supplements the experience with some additional visual tricks and even a great sequence where the sound is cut out almost entirely.
The performances are nearly perfect, especially Foster's. She plays the role masterfully, with a combination of fear, caring, intelligence and adrenaline. Stewart also makes a good impression as her daughter. As the other side, Leto is believably, entertainingly on edge, while Whitaker is excellent as a criminal with heart. Even country star Dwight Yoakam is superb as the quietest of the three who also turns out to be the most psychotic.
Although this was reportedly a fairly troubled production at times, Fincher has succeeded in putting together a fantastic thriller that keeps working up the suspense as it pushes forward. I still think "Panic Room" is one of the year's strongest pictures.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Panic Room" is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen by Columbia/Tristar Home Entertainment. This is a considerably dark picture, often maintaining a level that seems just a few steps away from total darkness. Still, cinematographers Conrad W. Hall and Darius Khondji (Khondji left during production due to creative differences), often capture the house beautifully.
Still, the transfer is dealing with difficult material to clearly capture and, while there are a lot of positives in regards to this presentation, there are also some noticable negatives. Sharpness and detail are about as good as one can expect from a film with this sort of visual style; shadow detail is generally passable, although some scenes can appear considerably dark and lack clarity.
Further issues arise: some slight edge enhancement is infrequently spotted, as is some occasional noise. Print flaws, such as specks and marks, are not seen, though, nor are any instances of pixelation. The film's very minimal color palette looked fairly well-reproduced, with no smearing or other faults.
This is a fairly solid reproduction of how I remember the picture looking when I viewed it theatrically last Winter, but given its "Superbit" status, I was surprised that it wasn't a little more consistent.
SOUND: "Panic Room" is presented in both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 audio on this release, along with a Dolby 2.0 track. Unusual for a "Superbit" title, there's also an additional 2.0 track in French (although apparently Foster does her own dubbing in French).
The film's soundtrack generally delivers on expectations. Surrounds are engaged for some noticable ambient sounds, such as the rain outside or other little touches. Sound effects, such as little whooshes during some of the computer-generated camera movements through the house, are also heard. Additionally, Howard Shore's terrifically tense score is reinforced by the rear speakers.
Audio quality was generally good throughout the show; Shore's score was crisply recorded, rich sounding and appropriately menacing. Most sound effects also were clear and easily heard. However, dialogue is occasionally a weak point in the mix, as it occasionally seemed a bit too quiet, requiring the volume to be raised - only to be lowered once again when the action starts up. Low bass is present on occasion, but never overwhelming. While the soundtrack did have some flaws, it did mostly offer an involving experience.
MENUS: In an odd move, considering animated menus are a "no no" for Superbits, which dump the animated menus to conserve space, there are actually animated main & sub-menus here.
EXTRAS: Ditto for the extras: while Superbits usually dump the supplements to conserve audio/video space, we actually get a teaser trailer and bios here. A special edition may be in the works, although one - or plans for one - have not been announced yet.
Final Thoughts: "Panic Room" is a sleek and often remarkably tense picture that offers superb performances from everyone involved. Columbia/Tristar's DVD is rather disapointing; picture and audio are both good, but each have concerns. I'd also rather not have to wait for a Special Edition of this title, as there's seemingly so much to discuss - both technical and in general - about this production. Still, I found it to be a very well-done picture and recommend the DVD, at least as a rental.
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