David Koepp (SPIDER-MAN, SNAKE EYES, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, JURASSIC PARK, CARLITO'S WAY, STIR OF ECHOES) has worked with some of the biggest directors in Hollywood, including Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis and Ron Howard; and lets not forget about Brian DePalma for whom he has penned four films.

While reading this review keep the following in mind: the job of the script critic is to communicate to the reader his or her reaction to the story, and sometimes the writing style. A script can succeed in telling its story, but yet not succeed in being an effective one. Never can it be the other way around. Also, this review is of a draft, the final shooting script may be completely different. Please keep that in mind.

David Koepp's February 23, 2000 draft of THE PANIC ROOM opens with the following message:

So this is where we are today in the world of professional screenwriting, hit 'em hard and fast -- blitzkrieg screenwriting. Keep the character development to a minimum and numb your audience with a fast and furious story.

Right away I'm thinking great, mindless chatter and senseless action on the big screen, like we haven't seen enough of that.

The first question I asked myself, "What is David Koepp the screenwriter try to accomplish with this story?" It's obvious the script is an exploitative one that offers nothing to forward the art and craft of screenwriting. But who says every script must do that, right?

THE PANIC ROOM comes out of the gate fast. A real estate broker is showing a place in Manhattan to a single mother (Meg to be played by Nicole Kidman) of Sarah (Hayden Panettiere) who is one fireball of a nine-year-old with little fear of anything.

As we join along in the tour of the Townhouse, which Meg ultimately takes, the screenwriter does a good job giving us the "lay of the land." Which will help nicely as the story unfolds, and it does quickly. Eighty-five to ninety percent of this story will take place in the Townhouse.

During this time a conversation between the real estate agents and Meg reveals a most important detail, the previous owner was extremely wealthy -- worth thirty million -- but somehow half of it was missing and his family was fighting over it. The way this conversation is developed was a little hard to swallow, just too quaint. Right away the setup is complete. The money is still in the house and someone is going to come looking for it. I wouldn't be surprised if the setup is accomplished while the credits are still rolling -- thus getting us into the action even faster.

The star attraction of the Townhouse is the "Panic Room," a room where the occupants of the Townhouse can flee to if threatened. The Panic Room is solid steel and built into the corner of the master bedroom. Only one side is not steel, the side that rests on the neighboring townhouse. It has a ventilation system and all kinds of gadgets.

This Panic Room also has supplies and a console of monitors that are apart of an elaborate security system of cameras and speakers throughout the home. There is even an outside phone line that is separate from the mainline.

By page 10 in the script Meg and Susan have moved in. Its two weeks later, the main phone line is working and Meg and Sarah are unpacking eating pizza. It's late. Meg is drinking some wine, a lot of wine. Sarah has a half-hearted conversation with her mother, very meaningless chatter. Let's not reveal too much about these two. Sarah then goes to sleep and Meg arms the security system. Feeling sleepy from the wine and a hot bath, Meg passes out in bed.

Enter the bad guys, Junior (Jared Leto), Burnham (Dwight Yoakam) and Raoul (Forest Whitaker). Junior is an almost unbelievably stupid character. Burnham is the most developed of the three. Raoul is the enforcer, mean and nasty. All are very superficial and stereotypical bad guys. Not a lot of imagination went into these characters.

The pace of the script is fast; Koepp was not lying when he said it would be. By page 15 Junior, Burnham and Raoul enter the Townhouse. Right away we get the sense that these guys know their way around just a little too well as they disable the security system, and secure the lower level of the three story Townhouse. Soon it's evident they know exactly what they're looking for. These arent amateurs.

It is then that they realize the house is occupied, it wasn't suppose to be. They immediately hold the first of many meetings in the kitchen, huddled in a circle like the Oakland Raiders. They argue, accuse each other of incompetence, but eventually decide that kidnapping was no big deal. They come up with a plan.

You have a script that is 105 pages long. That translates roughly into 105 minutes, every page of a screenplay is the equivalent of 1 minute of screen time, on average. But a lot depends on the director and the editor. Michael Mann could stretch out a 105-page script to 3 hours I have no doubt.

The story is exciting for about the first 45 pages, but as it enters the Second Act it really lost momentum for me. Too few characters, too little happening, and all in the same environment. Not enough changes in scenery. For me the severe lack of character development hurt the story tremendously. It felt like these were just three bumbling idiots who couldn't even pull off a job on time. They meant to hit the house when no one was there. This raised another question for me, why did it take three guys to do what should have been an easy job? Only two of the three should have been there. But dont worry, the screenwriter takes care of that.

Koepp does raise the stakes towards the end of Act Two. We learn that these three robbers are very capable of killing, and will stop at nothing to get what they want. I felt genuine fear for Sarah and Meg at several times. This was a desired effect and it worked well at points

The writing is engaging. As most of you know a screenplay is the outline for the movie, it must present the circumstances and the action visually. The reader must be able to picture what is happening. There isn't a lot of talking in this script. Very lean in this respect which I think was good when considering the characters. The action is presented in large chunks. A lot of exposition must be presented to describe what is happening. This always slows the story down for a reader, and it did for me. And this is an important point. Presenting these action sequences on celluloid will be much different than reading it. Hopefully in this instance it will be for the better.

The real trick for the director will be how to keep the audience's attention with such a confining story. With the lack of character development the screenwriter has written himself into a corner. In order for this script to work it has to be fast and furious. But, an audience will need time to breathe. This script does not afford them that.

From the lack of different possible scene locations to the suffocating presence of the Panic Room where much of the story takes place. It could be very overwhelming for an audience, or it could be a wild ride that makes it all worth it. But for me after a while, it was very repetitive and dull. Without blowing up the house there seemed to be a serious lack of possible action that could take place in a house. Note: having a final scene where Meg and Susan blow-up the house and survive only because the Panic Room protects them would have been very cool.

Bottom line, this story reminded me of an adult version of HOME ALONE, and a very unimaginative one at that. This script lends itself more towards a smaller independent type film that would benefit from the lack of expensive locations. Conflict could be presented in the story without too much expensive action scenes. A short and fast independent film, it would be perfect for that.

So, was this script successful in translating to me the reader a complete story with a clear beginning, middle and end? Yes. Was the motivation of the characters clear? Yes very much so. The script ultimately works on this level. The story has a fairly developed spine and the desires of the characters are obvious. So the next question, was this story an effective one? Koepp wrote a meaningless story, with thin characters, and a pointless plot. But, he was effective in his execution. This is a thriller bent on hard and fast action. That's exactly what it is, no more and no less.

The story remained exciting enough to hold my attention. I was able to connect with the weakly develop characters because their lives were under constant threat. That evoked emotion from me as a reader and will of an audience. Though there were some lacking moments in the script, it was ultimately successful in this respect.

Koepp does miss some nice opportunities for a much more rewarding story if he had bothered to develop the characters and not make the bad guys so stereotypical. But this is a criticism that can be made of a lot of Action/Thriller's genre films today.

This script is like a match. It lights quickly and burns bright early on, but then holds on desperately for every breath of life until it dies. The real key will be the directing and what if any changes are made to the script. I think it could be a stretch to make this work for 90 minutes let alone for two hours.

The director is David Fincher (SE7EN, FIGHT CLUB, THE GAME) who has got a lot of work cut out for him on this one. But if any director can pull it off I think he can.

Of note, screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker (SE7EN) has a small part in the film playing Meg's neighbor. Filming should be starting soon with a tentative release date of June 2001.