(rated R, 110 mins.)
The Upper West Side realtor says the three-story brownstone has everything… high ceilings, palladium windows and even a panic room which is a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, by the apartments now deceased owner Mr. Brillstein. What the realtor doesn’t tell newly divorced Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) is that the very chamber to hide, happens to be housing a supposed safe with $3,000,000 that the burglars are after. Suddenly Meg and daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart’s) first night at their new digs turn into a nightmare. Enter (literally) Burnham (Forest Whitaker), Raoul (Dwight Yoakam) and Junior (Jared Leto) in a cat and mouse game that will have the audience on the edge of their seats. As the burglars frustrations mount so does our tension. One burglar is the guy who designed the alarm system, one is trigger-happy and one was the deceased man’s caretaker. The movie delivers the right amount of thrills and chills with Foster delivering as much steam as she did in “Silence Of The Lambs.” Her kid is a mini Foster-in-the-making and Whitaker pulls off a sensitive bad guy role with ease.
