Panic Room

First of all, I praise the great performance of Jodie Foster, who actually doesn't even need to heartbreakingly cry and wail to express her despair and stress, the look in her terrified eyes is enough. And Fincher's precise and, as always, brilliant direction orchestrates her acting and gives the film a typically dense and uncomfortable atmosphere that gradually builds up until it finally culminates in a powerful and unforgettable finale. I thought Panic Room would be a lot weaker than the best Fincher films, but I was wrong. This guy has done another great job. 90% (17/08/2011)

Panic Room falls a little short against the rest of Mr. David Fincher's oeuvre. However, it’s still a gripping story with excellent cinematography, precise direction, well-developed characters, and an outstanding Jodie Foster who really acts like her life depended on it. As a genre flick, this is one of the better, if not the best, but as far as David Fincher is concerned, slightly above average. (Though he makes up for it with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). (10/05/2009)

A casual viewer will hardly appreciate David Fincher's brilliant camerawork and the subtle noir atmosphere of the entire film. The script is indeed simple, but the main characters are brilliantly portrayed and the settings of the large villa, bad weather, and Jodie Foster's believable acting contribute a lot. For fans of the genre and Fincher's films, it is truly an exceptional work. For most others, however, it will likely be just an average cat and mouse game with a slightly exaggerated ending. (01/11/2003)

Fincher's beloved toy for entertainment, which raises credit through three aspects: the perfect atmosphere of constant unease in the house, from which the camera only emerges sporadically, the ambiguous character of Whitaker, whom you cannot guess which side they will join until the last minute, and most importantly, Jodie Foster, who can play hysterical scenes with surprising bravado, on which most of her colleagues would break their teeth. Because of her, those three stars are better, but it needed more twists and script ideas. This way, the flyovers, details, and slow-motion shots get lost in their own purposelessness several times. 70% (13/08/2007)

A suspenseful and novel plot. There is no Fincher's darkness this time, "only" a very solid thriller, spiced up with a few gimmicks (the camera passing through the ear of the teapot). Jodie Foster is great as always, and it’s nice to see Forest Whitaker again, even in a villain role, but with a good heart. It couldn’t have been any other way with him :) (13/01/2003)