Intense!

You could have heard a pin drop in the packed theater as the entire audience collectively ceased to breathe. She was going to make a run for it. She was going to open the door. With all three of the intruders downstairs arguing, she might have just enough time to stealthfully re-enter the ransacked bedroom, find her cell phone, and dash back to safety before they could get to her. She had to take the chance. She pressed the plunger. The door to the mini-fortress opened for the first time since the seige began.

Camera cranks to some insanely high frame rate, making the motion slower than slow. Audio goes silent, as she runs across the bedroom and scrambles to find it. Nobody dares draw a breath. Not yet. Not until the scene is over. Not until Meg and her daughter are safe.

Not until the end credits finally roll can you truly inhale deeply again, and then let out a big sigh because it's over. You might even utter loud, gutteral scream in the car on the way home to release the tidal wave of tension that has accumulated. Hey, it worked for me!

With David Fincher behind the camera, and Jodie Foster in front of it, there's no way I was going to miss this movie. It's a piece of pure suspense done right.

The expositions lays the ground rules. The newly divorced Meg and her daughter are moving into a rare townhouse in Manhattan (because any kind of vacant residence is a rarity there, much less a big townhouse). Formerly owned by a recently deceased man of great wealth, the place has a unique feature. A panic room.

In a secret area hidden behind a false wall, there is an area behind a huge metal door, blocked off from the rest of the house by thick concrete reinforced with steel on all sides. It has its own separate power source, air ventilation, and phone line. Security monitors allow anyone who is inside to see what's happening throughout the house. Its purpose is to allow the resident a safe bunker to retreat into in case an attacker enters from downstairs.

Unbeknownst to Meg, the former owner also kept a huge chunk of his wealth in a hidden safe in the secret room. She doesn't know about that part, but some people do. And they want at it.

Predictably, when the thieves come to try and take the loot, she and her daughter end up inside the panic room. They want in. She wants out. But she can't get anywhere without facing them. They can't get in unless she opens the door. The perfect setup for a thrill ride of a movie.

There are some mighty cool mega-long roving camera shots, which sooner or later manage to make their way into every crack, crevice, wire, and microscopic detail of the setting. More than a little reminiscent of the apartment in Fight Club. Indeed, the Toybox effects company shows up again in the end credits. The one where the camera goes straight through the space under the coffee pot handle is almost too much of a show-off, because you know there's no way a real movie camera (especially a steadicam) would ever fit through there, but it still looks very cool.

Besides being suspenseful, there is a good bit of humor sprinkled throughout the film. In a way, that almost makes the tension even more potent, because it acts as a disarming agent. While the audience is still chuckling at a funny line of dialog, the action intensifies to a new level. Even as you laugh, you can feel the muscles clenching just a little bit tighter. The pressure never lets up.

With regard to the acting. Jodie Foster stars. Nothing more need be said.