April 1, 2002 -- "Panic Room" is a conventional, but well-crafted thriller which benefits from very talented actors. In structure and in quality, it is not unlike "Die Hard," the progenitor of a whole sub-genre of thrillers.

Academy Award-winner Jodie Foster stars as the recently-divorced Meg Altman, who has just moved into a swank apartment with her daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart). She's got enough to deal with, but her life gets a lot more complicated when a trio of crooks break into the apartment looking for millions of dollars in loot hidden there by the previous owner. Meg and Sarah take refuge in a "panic room," a steel-walled impenetrable fortress built into the house for just such an eventuality. The money that the crooks are after is inside the panic room. The crooks have to figure out a way to get them out of the room. It becomes a game of cat and mouse.

Director David Fincher ("Fight Club") knows how to keep the suspense high and cinematographers Conrad W. Hall and Darius Khondji use some trick shots to make things look interesting despite Spartan, poorly lit sets. In one scene, there is a rotating shot of Foster, who is asleep, being watched by one of the crooks, Burnham (played by Forest Whitaker of "Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai"). The shot of Foster is rotated so that her face goes from being horizontal to vertical. It is an interesting perspective. The film's opening titles are also interesting. The titles appear three-dimensional and they seem to be fastened to buildings in the New York City skyline. Some sort of digital effect, I guess.

The other two crooks, "Junior," (Jared Leto of "Requiem for a Dream") and Rauol (Dwight Yoakam of "Sling Blade") become interesting characters in the film, rather than just cardboard thugs. Their characters are reminiscent of those played by Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare in "Fargo." Leto, who also appeared in an earlier Fincher film, "Fight Club," has a very different look this time around. Leto is well on the way to becoming a top-notch character actor. Also appearing in the film is Patrick Bauchau as Meg Altman's ex-husband. Whitaker has the role of the good bad guy, a reluctant crook who doesn't want to see anybody get hurt. The acting is exceptional by the whole cast.

While the story, by David Koepp ("Mission Impossible") doesn't have any real surprises, the balance of power between the two women and the three crooks keeps shifting constantly during the film, creating more dramatic tension. There are enough little twists in the plot to keep things interesting, nothing inspired, mind you, just well-crafted. It is a very effective film of its type. This film rates a B.

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