‘Panic Room: SteelBook Edition’ 4K Ultra HD movie review

Director David Fincher’s claustrophobic thriller reemerges after nearly a quarter century of home theater DVD hibernation through a definitive ultra-high definition disc format release, enveloped in a metal case no less, in Panic Room: SteelBook Edition (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated R, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 112 minutes, $45.99).

The recently divorced Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her diabetic daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) move into an expensive, four-story New York brownstone on the Upper West Side previously owned by a paranoid and deceased millionaire.

During Meg and Sarah’s first night in their new home, three, easily agitated and slightly bumbling robbers – Burnham, Junior and Raoul (Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and Dwight Yoakam, respectively) – break in and attempt to steal $3 million in bonds supposedly hidden by the expired former tenant.

Luckily, the millionaire built an impregnable panic room, reinforced with concrete and steel and with an extensive security system that includes surveillance cameras and an address system.

The good news is that Meg and Sarah are safe and stuck in the room. The bad news is what the robbers want is in the panic room, and Sarah does not have her insulin.

Mr. Fincher’s sophisticated, hardcore “Home Alone” offers a steady stream of nail-biting within a fairly plausible plot that shines through not only the heavyweight performances, even Mr. Yoakam delivers some scene-stealing moments, but some very stylistic cinematography.

4K in action: The director-approved brand-new 4K scan of the original negative takes advantage of the format through mainly clarity.

The expected high dynamic range enhancements are less vibrant due to a desaturated palette that helps reinforce the very claustrophobic and dire happenings on screen.

Cinematographers Conrad W. Hall and Darius Khondji deliver Mr. Fincher’s vision within a sometimes dimly lit, very yellowish-and-greenish-hued color scheme translated accurately in the 2160p format.

Moments of detail shine when examining the sweat on the brows of Burnham and Junior or watching the results of a flame igniting a stream of propane in a ventilation shaft and its expected, explosive consequences.

Early on in the film, a single continuous shot of the robbers trying to get into the house takes viewers from the third-floor bedroom right into the keyhole of the main floor’s door. The director executes the shot by using some practical camera positions and smoothed-out computer effects.  

Best extras: Well, except for the elegant SteelBook case, viewers get no new bonus content in the 4K release. However, what they do get is all of the massive amount of extras originally assembled for the special edition DVD released back in 2004.

All spread out on a pair of Blu-ray discs, the initial obvious highlight is the three optional commentary tracks with select members of the cast, the director and the writer.

First, a track recorded separately with Ms. Foster, Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Yoakum has the individuals’ comments initially introduced by a mysterious narrator and the actors never interacting with one another, which is less than ideal.

However, all extras offer a welcomed perspective with actors complementing and explaining Mr. Fincher’s methodical directing style (it took three days to shoot just getting in the door); each actor’s motivations for the characters; Ms. Foster pregnancy during shooting; and plenty of talk about working on the set to create a great film.

Next, Mr. Fincher sits down solo and dives deep on much of the technical aspects of the film but also saves room to offer some introspection on the cast.

Among his comments, he dissects the title sequence; explains the famed “big shot”; equates his film to a “B” movie stature (the most memorable kind to him); explains a slew of minor issues that made the production a drag; and why taking 107 takes to slide a syringe bag toward the camera was very bad waste of time.

Finally, writer David Koepp occasionally dissects his plot and gets help from legendary gruff Academy Award-winning screenwriter William Goldman (“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “All the President’s Men”) who basically acts as an interviewer.

He takes Mr. Koepp nonstop on many entertaining tangents as the pair tackle everything from Ms. Foster replacing Nicole Kidman for the lead role to the origins of the story, Ms. Foster’s pregnancy, script writing and working on film sets.

Not enough? Now dive into roughly six hours of featurettes meticulously covering every bit of the production.

Start with a 52-minute production diary, almost an educational documentary that goes deep into Mr. Fincher’s filmmaking process.

Areas touched on by cast and crew include rehearsals; repairing sets, continuity of lighting within a two-camera shoot; flame practical effects; and a time-lapse look at the creation of the brownstone that required more than 150 tons of steel, 500,000 linear feet of lumber and cost $6 million to build on an indoor set, camera lens comparisons, issues with using 3 perf Super 35 film stock.

Now how about another roughly 90-minutes encompassing 20 featurettes looking at the digital effects used to enhance the movie explained and narrated by visual effect supervisor Kevin Haug and visual effects coordinator Leslie McMinn as they dissect down to how to create propane vapor trails and inserting a sliding computer-generated gun and cellphone in a scene.

Other notable segments include working with a digital intermediate of the film, learning how to drill into a real safe and breakdowns of four sequences The Phone Jack, End of Junior, Hammer Time, and Burnham Surrounded through script, storyboards, raw dailies and test footage.

The sturdy SteelBook packaging offers a brushed gunmetal container holding the 3-disc set and features a front cover of the title and main cast’s names with a bluish tinted image of Meg and Sarah set inside the lettering.

Both the rear cover and interior spread feature a collage of the characters from the film designed like comic book panels sans any lettering.