The Panic Room

The thing I found puzzling about THE PANIC ROOM was the fact it was directed by David Fincher......it's was just sooooooooooooo unlike anything we'd seen from him before. Then of course came ZODIAC, which is similar but then it didn't prepare us for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON so it's fair to say Fincher is a hard bird to predict. Unfortunately THE PANIC ROOM isn't but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Jodi Foster always manages to elevate a project but when you throw in Forrest Whitaker and Dwight Yoakam in one of his best roles and you end up with something special. Oh, did I mention this was an early role for Kristen Stewart she of the whole TWILIGHT craze and I'll be the first to admit she cranks out some good work here. We even get a cameo from TWIN PEAKS' Ian Buchanan and a vocal bit from Nicole Kidman and the Howard Shore music is perfect for this simple but effective story which once again proves that proper direction of good talent can make anything watchable.