David Fincher is four for four. His three previous films, "Seven," "The Game" and "Fight Club," were brilliantly plotted,
ingeniously realized suspense-thrillers; his new "Panic Room" is right up there with them. It's possible that as a director, Fincher is only getting better. (We are overlooking, by the way, the fact that he also directed "Alien3." It's unfair to count a franchise sequel as Fincher's own work.) "Panic Room" has the simplest of plots. Newly divorced Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her androgynous young daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart), whom I honestly thought was a boy for half the movie, move into a gorgeous old house in Manhattan. It's a brownstone/townhouse combination -- a "townstone," the realtor calls it -- with three stories, an elevator, and a "panic room."
To read the rest of this review, click on the relevant link below.