The major goof that I saw was the use of propane from the grill. Since propane is heavier than air, it would pool in the bottom of the room, exactly where they were bending down to escape from it. Instead of exploding in the ceiling, it would explode near the floor (that is, if the propane could even rise up to the vent, instead of sinking in the air duct).
I really liked the opening titles; the floating letters made me think I was looking out of a window from a building across the street.
When Jodie was talking to the cops, she didn’t need some signal such as blinking. It had already been established that people in the panic room could only see what was going on, not hear it, so she could have simply told the cops what was going on.
I must say, Dwight Yokum makes a good SOB.
Hear, hear! I saw his name in the credits and didn’t even think about it during the movie. I didn’t even recognize him with the mask off (they are gonna kick me outta Nashville for that one.) But his acting and music are just so totally separated. Most singers turned actors are kinda lame. But Dwight is a damn fine actor. Especially his SOB role in Sling Blade.
MRE’s do not only contain desserts, but also an instant coffee kit. The kit includes, for instance PURE SUGAR.
I was going bananas watching that. Perhaps if they had READ THE CONTENTS of the package, they could have found SUGAR listed in giant block letters.
I concur. For a bastard in the movie, he definitely had a great performance as “Raoul”.
SPOILER:
What I want to know is why, if Junior thought the house was empty, he would think it necessary to bring the Forest Whitaker character along…why did he think he might need the designer of the panic room itself? Looked to me like it was simply a job of cracking a safe.
Or even better yet, why bring along Raoul? He added nothing to their scheme at all.
I just don’t like movies where the antagonist is as stupid as a bag of hammers.
Just remembered another small thing that bugged me: when the daughter is flashing “SOS” in Morse code with the flashlight, and Jodie asks her where she learned that, the daughter answers, “Titanic.” But in the movie Titanic, the distress signal sent out was not “SOS” but the then-used signal “CQD”. Fincher flubbed.
Well, I’m not disputing what the movie showed…I don’t really remember. But the Titanic did indeed send out the “SOS” signal, so maybe she had read about it or something. It’s one of the more famous aspects of the Titanic story–the myth that Titanic was the first to use “SOS.” (They weren’t, but they were one of the first.)
Well, I’ve found this: Snopes: The Titanic was the first ship to use SOS as a distress call - False. It appears that the Titanic did indeed send SOS along with the CQD, although it sent only CQD initially and added the SOS late into the sinking process. The SOS distress call didn’t appear in the movie at all, though it appeared in the script. Check the DVD at 1:49:03, you’ll see it was excised.
Okay, so she didn’t get it directly from the movie. My theory? She’s about the right age…she became obsessed with Leo DiCaprio and read anything and everything she could about the movie…and that’s where she picked it up.
Personally, I learned how to SOS from that dish-soap commercial. You know…the one with the pots and pans beating out the signal? Really annoying.
As she’s supposed to be Ms. Foster’s daughter, I don’t know that we can assume Leo is the one she was interested in 
And don’t jump on my case, I love Jody Foster! I’m not gonna shoot any presidents over her, but she can be quite the hottie.
You’re carrying this “film by” nonsense too far when you blame the director for a mistake by the screenwriter (David Koepp).
Still, I wonder why the entire production crew did not notice a blooper that was immediately obvious to Max Torque and, I humbly add, myself.
As for the propane issue that that JohnGalt observed: I wondered about that too. I let it slide by while watching the movie, but it’s true: propane sinks in air. The one thing I was pretty sure about, though, was that Junior’s sleeve would not have burned with a blue flame. Sure, it was ignited by the propane, but all the gas had burned off by the time he was waving his arm; the flame was produced by the cloth. In fact, aren’t fabrics supposed to resist that kind of heat before igniting?
I think Raoul may have intimidated him into including him on the job.
Speaking of hammers, one of my big gripes was the recovering from the sledgehammer to the head. I could see someone possibly retaining consciousness if it just clipped them or they rolled with it right, but even if Raoul had a titanium skull w/shock absorbers that blow would have broken his neck. I think it would have been more effective if that killed him, the movie didn’t need another fight scene there and making Jody a killer would complete the role-reversal she makes from inside to outside the panic room.
When I saw the girl hide the needles, I thought she was going to inject Raoul and have him go into shock like she did, maybe have her playing to Forrest’s character lack of knowledge about diabetes - ‘You could give him the shot, but I’m not going to tell you which one I injected him with’ - more insulin wouldn’t help if that was what she shot him with. Might have been a bit too complex or appropriate for her character though (kid did seem smart though).
I don’t think the explosion would have blown out the wall like that, or if it did it would have been fatal to the mother and probably her daughter. There were too many other paths for the pressure to escape through.
Ok, I just saw the movie, and I’m wondering a few things…like, before she got the glucagon injection, the daughter is having seizures and just about in a coma. But afterwards, she seems perfectly healthy. How accurate is this?
And what’s the deal with her reciting all the Beatles’ album titles? I’d think a girl that age would be more likely to listen to Korn or Destiny’s Child.
I see someone else mentioned the Titanic/S.O.S. thing, I caught that too.
I’ve submitted the propane thing to the IMDb as a “goof”. Of course, knowing them, this might actually get posted in a couple months.
The injection would have had a pretty quick effect. So long as her blood sugar returned to a safe level, she would have been fine, just as depicted. Results vary depending upon the individual, but what was shown was well within the realm of possibility.
She seemed to be an awfully grown up kid, helping her mom swear and all. I think she’d think Korn is a bunch of Nirvanabe’s and Destiny’s Child just lame. Besides, if she were listing their albums, how many of the general populace would know what she was talking about? Not me, but then I’m tragically unhip. Also, she needed a long list and the Beatles’ discography is pretty extensive. If she were trying to keep herself calm by reciting all the Destiny’s Child albums, she’d need to repeat it quite a few times.
Considering that she was wearing a Sid Vicious shirt at the begining of the film, her reciting Destiny’s Child albums would seem even stranger than her going over Beatles albums. I look at it this way: as a younger child she was into the Beatles, now she digs talentless hacks that were smart enough to die young.
I enjoyed the film, despite some of the obvious loopholes in the plot already mentioned. Here’s one more:
Okay, let’s say that you’re planning a job, and a third wheel named Raoul shows up packing heat. You want something in the Panic Room, but you don’t want the people in the house (who you didn’t even know would be there) to be able to call the cops on you.
Geez, if I was any sort of criminal… when the lady and her kid were in the elevator, I’D SEND SOMEONE STRAIGHT TO THE PANIC ROOM. I mean, that’s what you wan’t anyway, right?
Someone else could guard the bottom of the stairs, and the third person could go about screwing the doors shut. Assuming that the phone lines were already cut properly, all you’d have to do is chase the people around the house and wait for the guy in the Panic Room to finish cracking the safe.
Of course, this couldn’t happen underneath the “Then There’d Be No Movie” Clause of 1977.