Panic Room

Directed By David Fincher

Starring Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, Dwight Yoakam and Kristen Stewart

The crowd going to see a David Fincher movie is going to expect something new and exciting, a film with an edge. But this is not your typical David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club) movie. And while I don't particularly like Fincher's past work, I don't like this film either. The film is incredibly predictable, quite static and has no edge. It feels more like Steven Spielberg trying to do a David Fincher movie. Luckily for us though, this isn't as terrible Steven Spielberg trying to do a Stanley Kubrick film.

If you have seen the trailer for this movie, then I don't really need to explain the story outline at all. In fact, if you've seen the trailer, you can pretty much imagine exactly how the film is going to go, so why waste your money? Well you'll go anyway, so I'll continue writing

Fincher does nothing to surprise us in this film. And I don't mean that he has to have a weird, surprising ending like in Fight Club, but you at least expect out of him something new and different. But really it isn't there. There are the typical Fincher shots which switch from being normal to digital so that he can do things a camera can't do, such as go through floors and ceilings or go between the handle of a coffee pot. But this certainly isn't new and most of the time it's rather pointless, like the going between the handle of the coffee pot shot. Personally I feel like I'm being

Jared Leto with Cornrows. Best decision ever for a film.

cheated when he does this, because he takes the easy way out by using a computer instead of trying to take the camera to new and interesting places. But he does neither in this film. The beginning has a few typical Fincher-type shots, but after a while he forgets about this and just makes a straight, boring film and leaves the audience hoping for something to happen.

The most surprising things in the film are Jodie Foster's breasts and Jared Leto's hair. Throughout most of the film, Foster wears a tight tank top, which really makes her breasts quite visible. At times during the film, I felt like I was watching a Jennifer Love Hewitt movie based on the number of shots of her breasts. But while a Jennifer Love Hewitt movie is being sold on the fact that you will get to see shots of her breasts, I didn't think this movie was trying to sell itself with Jodie Foster's breasts. I certainly don't mind Jodie Foster's breasts, but I was still surprised. As for Jared Leto's hair, all that needs to be said is he has cornrows. And he's white. Honestly his hair is worth the price of admission.

Overall, this movie is rather average. Forest Whitaker is, as he generally is, very good. But I think we could all do without Dwight Yoakam. And if it weren't for their above mentioned physical features, Jared Leto and Jodie Foster wouldn't really do anything for me. As for David Fincher, he never should have taken this script. First of all, it's not good. Second of all, it lacks the punch of a Fincher-type film. This is probably the weakest of all his films, although I've never seen Se7en, The Game, or Aliens³ , so I guess it would really be hard for me to make that judgement. But thankfully it is significantly better than A.I.

Rating: 55%