65
Metascore
36 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New YorkerAnthony LaneThe New YorkerAnthony LaneThere is something horribly apt in the way Fincher closes the drama in joyless exhaustion, leaving you certain that there will be a sequel to these events, not onscreen but in someone's home, tonight. [8 April 2002, p. 95]
- 90Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternIngeniously scary.
- 88ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliFincher eschews quick cuts in favor of long, leisurely ones. He knows what he's doing, and the proof is in the result. The suspense in Panic Room never ebbs, and that makes for a thoroughly entertaining -- if somewhat exhausting -- 108 minutes.
- 80VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthySmartly plotted, convincingly acted and brilliantly executed technically, this engrossing thriller adds some clever modern wrinkles to the time-tested formula of sinister intruders threatening innocents in their home.
- 80Film ThreatFilm ThreatA very scary film, well made and lovingly dark, and it illustrates how terrified we are of becoming the victims we see on TV.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe movie resembles a chess game; the board and all of the pieces are in full view, both sides know the rules, and the winner will simply be the better strategist.
- 70The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensAn above-average thriller.
- 63USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkThings move fast enough to make it a movie to enjoy and then forget.
- 40SalonCharles TaylorSalonCharles TaylorMight be entertaining for those who like seeing a terrified teenage girl watch a loved one get beaten to a pulp while she slides into a diabetic coma. For the rest of us it's both stagnant and vaguely unpleasant.
- 40Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanLike the shelter for which it is named, Panic Room is an efficiently tooled construction (albeit one whose success is overly predicated on its villains' single-minded idiocy). But unlike the eponymous treasure trove, there's nothing inside.