- Aug 20, 2000
- 20,577
- 432
- 126
As always, no major plot points are given away that the simplest of minds wouldn't have figured out from the various commercials that have been run promoting the movie.
Cast: Jodie Foster who needs no introducing. Kristen Stewart as her daughter Sarah. Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam et al round out the crew.
Synopsis: Meg Altman (Foster) is restarting her life whilst the painful proceedings of her divorce are underway. Changing her place of residence is obviously one of the major steps she will take along the way, so she chooses carefully and ends up making an offer on the spot for a unique brownstone built to specification by a millionaire, who along with other luxuries, added a hidden ?panic room? to protect himself in case of a break-in.
I'll try to get to the point. Before seeing this movie last night I said I was in the mood for something light and fun, not a nail-biter thriller that would leave me paranoid when it came time to go to sleep that night; only on the spur of the moment did I see Panic Room instead of, oh, say, Ice Age. In any case there was definitely nothing to fear at night after watching Panic Room. It was completely devoid of suspense.
There are some movies that keep you on the edge of your seat, mentally pulling for the protagonist because you're really not sure if s/he'll make it out of there alive. I think one important dilemma a director faces is whether to ink a major name to their lead role and bring in the crowds or go with a talented lesser known name/unknown altogether and make the audience actually wonder about the ending. As I said in my last review, we never expect Wesley Snipes to die in the Blade movies. Would you expect the uncannily determined and resourceful Jodie Foster to lose a battle against home intruders? Doubtful.
If that wasn't bad enough, the script veers in between a thriller and a comedy. Don't they realize that every time the crowd laughs, you have to build all that suspense up again? I was physically tired after my first viewing of The Fugitive because it just kept on building. There will be none of that at this movie.
Good points. Some beautiful cinematography mixed in with CGI work; I swear that nobody's really gotten this right yet though, because I can always detect shimmer or something that gives it away. Music/sound work is pretty unnoticeable, but I'm hard-pressed for good things about this movie so I'll include it...
Bad points: As I've just griped for almost a full page, there's no suspense to this thriller at all. Next, Foster's daughter in the movie (Kristen Stewart) is really annoying. Very annoying, with those withering "duh" glares at her mother and general dumb replies. Finally, the violence in the movie - people do a hell of a lot of damage but nobody ever seems to stay down or pass out! Must be all that adrenalin or something. That's all.
Action = Just people running around, really.
Nudity = If you want to see Jodie Foster naked, you might want to check out her much earlier films...this is neither the time nor the place!
Plot = It's kind of like Home Alone plus a panic room, but with much more menace - at least supposedly...
Acting = People look suitably frightened, stunned, in pain or sarcastic accordingly and none too brilliantly. There's all pretty solid actors when needed.
Bottom line: *yawn* Don't bother watching it, spend your money elsewhere. An utter sleeper of a movie whose kind of cool concept is bringing in a lot of ticket stubs but word will eventually get around that it's a big waste of two hours. Screw it!
Official sully rating (between -4 and 12): 6. You won't actually fall asleep like I might have during Charlotte Grey (ugh), but you won't much care about the outcome either. Save your money for another rainy day vocation.
Cast: Jodie Foster who needs no introducing. Kristen Stewart as her daughter Sarah. Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam et al round out the crew.
Synopsis: Meg Altman (Foster) is restarting her life whilst the painful proceedings of her divorce are underway. Changing her place of residence is obviously one of the major steps she will take along the way, so she chooses carefully and ends up making an offer on the spot for a unique brownstone built to specification by a millionaire, who along with other luxuries, added a hidden ?panic room? to protect himself in case of a break-in.
I'll try to get to the point. Before seeing this movie last night I said I was in the mood for something light and fun, not a nail-biter thriller that would leave me paranoid when it came time to go to sleep that night; only on the spur of the moment did I see Panic Room instead of, oh, say, Ice Age. In any case there was definitely nothing to fear at night after watching Panic Room. It was completely devoid of suspense.
There are some movies that keep you on the edge of your seat, mentally pulling for the protagonist because you're really not sure if s/he'll make it out of there alive. I think one important dilemma a director faces is whether to ink a major name to their lead role and bring in the crowds or go with a talented lesser known name/unknown altogether and make the audience actually wonder about the ending. As I said in my last review, we never expect Wesley Snipes to die in the Blade movies. Would you expect the uncannily determined and resourceful Jodie Foster to lose a battle against home intruders? Doubtful.
If that wasn't bad enough, the script veers in between a thriller and a comedy. Don't they realize that every time the crowd laughs, you have to build all that suspense up again? I was physically tired after my first viewing of The Fugitive because it just kept on building. There will be none of that at this movie.
Good points. Some beautiful cinematography mixed in with CGI work; I swear that nobody's really gotten this right yet though, because I can always detect shimmer or something that gives it away. Music/sound work is pretty unnoticeable, but I'm hard-pressed for good things about this movie so I'll include it...
Bad points: As I've just griped for almost a full page, there's no suspense to this thriller at all. Next, Foster's daughter in the movie (Kristen Stewart) is really annoying. Very annoying, with those withering "duh" glares at her mother and general dumb replies. Finally, the violence in the movie - people do a hell of a lot of damage but nobody ever seems to stay down or pass out! Must be all that adrenalin or something. That's all.
Action = Just people running around, really.
Nudity = If you want to see Jodie Foster naked, you might want to check out her much earlier films...this is neither the time nor the place!
Plot = It's kind of like Home Alone plus a panic room, but with much more menace - at least supposedly...
Acting = People look suitably frightened, stunned, in pain or sarcastic accordingly and none too brilliantly. There's all pretty solid actors when needed.
Bottom line: *yawn* Don't bother watching it, spend your money elsewhere. An utter sleeper of a movie whose kind of cool concept is bringing in a lot of ticket stubs but word will eventually get around that it's a big waste of two hours. Screw it!
Official sully rating (between -4 and 12): 6. You won't actually fall asleep like I might have during Charlotte Grey (ugh), but you won't much care about the outcome either. Save your money for another rainy day vocation.
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