STARS : Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whittaker, Jared Leto & Dwight Yoakum

Apartment For Lease / Manhatten : 4 floors (2 of which contain bedrooms only), elevator, massive kitchen, alarm system, incredible views, polished floorboards and, oh yes, a little thing called a Panic Room.

The premise of a film about a woman and her daughter trapped in a room with burgulars trying to break in doesn’t sound like much does it? Think Again. Panic Room not only disproves this but also provides an environment so claustrophobic that you have to remind yourself to breathe constantly.

Single mother Meg Altman (Foster) and her daughter Sarah (Stewart) are looking for a place to live when they come across the apartment above and without a moments hesitation snap it up. Further investigation reveals that the apartment was owned by a very wealthy and highly paranoid businessman who deemed all of these security methods essential to one’s well being.

On Meg and Sarah’s first night, 3 men,Burnham (Whittaker), Junior (Leto) & Raoul (Yoakum) break in looking for something that the eccentric former owner hid somewhere in the house. Expecting the house to be empty their carefully laid plans are thrown into disarray when they discover Meg and Sarah in the house earlier than planned but due to time restrictions decide to proceed anyway.

Upon hearing the intruders in the house, Meg and Sarah seek refuge in the panic room which causes problems for all parties for reasons I wont go into as I refuse to spoil this sensational film. Needless to say what follows in literally a cat and mouse game as Meg tries to stay one step ahead of the thieves and they try literally every trick in the book to get her and Meg out of the Panic Room so they can do what they came to do.

David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, The Game) never fails to deliver innovative and exciting films and Panic Room is head and shoulders the best work he has done to date.

Verdict : Fincher does it again

THE EXTRAS

* Teaser Trailer : A very clever trailer that gives away nothing about the film except for the fact that there’s something called a Panic Room and Jodie Foster involved. Anyone out there who makes trailers could learn a thing or two about this.

* Selected Filmographies : Text pages of info on the following people associated with the film : Director David Fincher, Writer David Koepp and Stars Jodie Foster, Forest Whittaker, Jared Leto, Dwight Yoakum. One thing that struck me as interesting was that even though Fincher has only directed 5 films, the page of info only included 4 with the omission being Alien3

CONCLUSION

Panic Room is the best film I have seen this year on on my 2nd (and 3rd) viewing is as captivating, fresh and riveting as the initial experience.

With thanks to Columbia Tristar, Panic Room is available to buy or rent from October 12.