Hey folks, Harry here with Piotro Pinkie... our Eastern European Dwarf... This lil bastard is never seen coming or going at NRG screenings. Those guys may be ex-Mossad super spies, but their field of vision is aimed at the horizon, not at their toes. Piotro has left the Flea Circus and joined the bigtime on his step ladder and when you consider he had to leap from key to key to type this report... You know... the lil fucker's in great shape! Here ya go...
Hey Harry...
So here's my crappy review.
Panic Room. A room built inside a huge 3 level brownstone apartment. Built to withstand anything. Once the doors closed, no one can get in. It's not possible. It's built out of thick steel. It's a groovy contraption.
Panic Room. A movie about a mother and daughter who move into said brownstone apartment, and are soon forced to take shelter in the only safe haven in the apartment, the panic room, when 3 people break in. Of course, it's not that simple. What the burglars want is in the panic room, which they can't get into, and that the mother and daughter refuse to leave.
Panic Room. "Die Hard in a house"- John Robie.
Panic Room. The new movie by David Fincher. A guy who's had an interesting career so far. One that, in the very least, have made me people rub their eyes and pay attention. Who would of thought that the guy responsible for those tight Paula Abdul video's would go on to direct films like Seven and Fight Club? Me? I've always liked Fincher. Since back in the day when Encino Man and Alien 3 both opened on the same weekend, and I saw them on the same day, I dug him. Maybe not so much for Alien 3, which I like in it's own respects, but more so for the fact that he really had the shit beat out of him for making that film. And a lot of it wasn't even his fault, but whatever. He took it, didn't let it him get him too down, and eventually came back and made SEVEN, then THE GAME, and lastly the much argued, much hated, and much loved on by fan boys, FIGHT CLUB. When I read a while back that David Koepp sold this script for 4 million, I freaked. ! Wh! en I read that Fincher signed on I was like, "hmmm well that's interesting. He's taking the old, one film for me, one film for the studio attitude.". So when I scored the chance to go check out a test of Panic Room, I leapt at the chance. Well, as high as short bastard like myself can jump....
...So yeah, the concept is cool? But does it work? And was Fincher just looking to make a commericial film? Yes, to me, the film works. And no, I don't think he was just looking to make a commercial film. Yes, he took a commerical concept, but one that he could play around with visually, bring his style and atmosphere to, and brought it to the next level. Seriously. If this film was in the hands of a lesser director, it would have been an extremely cheesy, melodramatic mess. Not that it's perfect as it is, but again this is a test screening so the main problems I had with the pacing and the ending most likely will be tweaked and fixed by the time it comes out in February.
So what did I like about the movie?
Fincher's direction is great. To me, he has a better grasp on it here, then he did in Fight Club. Sure Fight Club was working with greater themes and so on, but the direction sometimes got a little crazy, a little bit to un restrained in my opinion. Here....he's working in a small area, and controls his scenes for the most part perfectly, with the restraint that is needed to build tension. The atmosphere he's created in the brownstone and in the Panic Room itself is great. The acting was good all around. Foster was fine with what she had to work with. She's strong, but there's not a whole lot of personality to her character, which makes it hard for the audience to really give a rats ass about her. But the actress who plays her daughter was good. It was an understated performance once they got locked in the panic room, but it was good. She held her own along side Foster. Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakum, and Jared Leto as the three burglars, we're all fine. Especia! ll! y Whitaker and Yoakum. Whitaker is always a bad ass, even when directing something like HOPE FLOATS, and Yoakum was way effective in a role that could have easily gone over the top. Leto on the other hand was the weakest of the three. He wasn't bad, just gave almost the same performance he gave in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, but far more over the top and clown like.
I mentioned the suspense briefly earlier, and I'm gonna delve into that a little further. It's been a while since there has been a really solid suspense film for me. In fact, I can't really think of one. I'm not trying too incredibly hard, but still. The suspense here is golden. Instead of building fast, it builds slowly, and really had me on the edge. Yes, a lot of it is maybe cliche and by the book, but it's done effectively, which is more then can be said for most so called suspense films.
Now what didn't I like...
First, I know I've mentioned the suspense and so on, and how it builds slowly....well it builds a little too slowly. I could hear a lot of squirming in seats and it wasn't just from the suspense. When the film ended, I totally thought the film was at least 2 and a half hours long, and couldn't believe it when I heard someone say that it was exactly 2 hours. So umm yeah that needs to be fixed, and I think it will be by the time it comes out.
The Fincher Cam-Where un-to the camera would trace a cord on the ground, into a wall, through the ceiling, and out a phone jack on the next level of the house. These shots are cool, they really are. I remember the first few in the film I was like, "that's so cool" but after like the 10th one I was like, please no more. But this is just a small bitch.
The Ending-Is just plain unsatsifying. Which sucks. The film builds and builds, and when it ends, you just expect something more. Bigger. Not to mention the fate of one of the characters really sucks, which is sad, because, odd as it is, I think this is the character most of the audience digs and roots for secretly.
Lastly, The Macguyver factor. Which is pretty much the whole, "I have a ball of string and a needle, watch me get out of a room". Some of these instances worked, but others just became repetitive, and some what tired.
From reading the reviews already on the site, and from talking to people after the screening, I can already see that this is going to be another like or hate fincher film and whatever. That's fine. Cuz I dig it. I really dig it.
And congratulations to who ever made it this far, this has been one shitty review thru and thru. So thanks and I'm out.
Send your step ladders and 2ft tall women here! I like em tall!
Piotro Pinkie
