A divorced woman and her diabetic daughter take refuge in their newly-purchased house's safe room when three men break-in, searching for a missing fortune.
Recently divorced Meg Altman and her daughter Sarah have bought a new home in New York. On their tour around the mansion, they come across the panic room. A room so secure, that no one can get in. When three burglars break in, Meg makes a move to the panic room. But all her troubles don't stop there. The criminals know where she is, and what they require the most in the house is in that very room.—Film_Fan
Meg Altman - emotionally estranged from her cheating ex-husband, pharmaceutical magnate Stephen Altman - and their street-wise pre-teen daughter Sarah Altman are spending their first night in their just purchased converted brownstone in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The conversions, which include a functioning elevator and secure panic room, were made by the now deceased former owner, a wealthy recluse whose family is now fighting over the whereabouts of his vast estate. What Meg does not know is that part of that estate - supposedly $3 million - is hidden in a safe in the floor of the panic room, something that Burnham, Junior and Raoul know. Junior is the grandson of the previous owner, Burnham works for the security company that monitors the security system for the brownstone including its panic room, and Raoul is Junior's gun-toting hired hand. The three plan on retrieving the money. Believing the brownstone still empty, the three criminals break into the brownstone and quickly find that it is not as empty as they believed. When all five realize there are others unexpected in the house, Meg and Sarah are able to make it into the panic room, but one that as of yet has no functioning telephone, which Burnham knows. Burnham also knows there is no way for him or his partners to get into the panic room. The five are at a standoff as Meg and Sarah will not leave the panic room, while the three criminals won't leave until they get the money. As Meg and Sarah try to figure out how to get a message to the outside world - specifically either to the police or Stephen - they are working against time as Sarah is a diabetic who does not have access to her insulin. And the three criminals may have other foes besides the Altmans, the three who are differing personalities and thus have different motivations in stealing the money. Each may have different thoughts on how far they should go to get it.—Huggo
Newly divorced Meg Altman (Foster) and her young diabetic daughter Sarah (Stewart) are forced to flee to the panic room of their newly rented New York home when three men (Leto, Whitaker and Yoakam) force their way into the house on a mission to recover millions of dollars in a safe hidden - where else - in the same high security, purpose built safe haven called the panic room.
When burglars break in to a newly-bought house expecting to find money, they find its owners sleeping upstairs. The odds are against the claustrophobic mother and her child with low blood sugar when they are locked into the Panic Room, a room where they are "safe" from criminals. Unfortunately, they are locked in with the very money that the burglars want...and the burglars threaten to come in...or make the family of two come out.—Jordan
Recently divorced Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her 11-year-old daughter Sarah (Kirsten Stewart) have just purchased a four-story brownstone on the upper west side of New York City. Sarah is diabetic.The house was renovated in 1994 and has all the expected amenities. The property has a small yard and an amount of living space that is unusual in Manhattan. The lot is 21 feet by 53 feet. And allows for an expansive garden. The house has a working elevator installed inside.
The house's previous owner, a reclusive millionaire Sidney Pearlstine, installed an isolated room used to protect the house's occupants from intruders. Sidney has died recently, and real estate agent tells Meg that his kids are embroiled in a bitter fight over the control of the estate. They are not able to find half of his money.
The "panic room" is protected by concrete and steel on all sides, a thick steel door, and an extensive security system with multiple surveillance cameras, a public address system and a separate phone line. Turns out Meg is claustrophobic. The heavy steel door has an inbuilt motion sensor at chest and ankle heights and won't close if there is anything blocking it.Meg makes an offer and soon mother and daughter move into the home. Meg spends the evening setting up the home and learns to activate and operate the hoe security system.
On the night the two moves into the home, at around 1:30 AM it is broken into by Junior (Jared Leto), the grandson of the previous owner; Burnham (Forest Whitaker), an employee of the residence's security company; and Raoul (Dwight Yoakam), a ski mask-wearing gunman recruited by Junior. Junior says that Raoul has experience in heists and hence was recruited by him through his contacts.
The three are after $3 million in bearer bonds, which are locked inside a floor safe in the panic room. Junior does not want to share the bonds with his extended family when his grandfather's estate is settled in probate.
After discovering that the Altmans have already moved in, Junior convinces a reluctant Burnham, who assumed the house was unoccupied, to continue with their heist. Junior says that the escrow was for 3 weeks and hence the Altmans were not supposed to move in for at least another week. Burnham says that the security system is activated, so all of them have already been captured on tape.
As they begin the robbery, Meg wakes up and happens to see the intruders on the video monitors in the panic room. Before the three can reach them, Meg and Sarah run into the panic room and close the door behind them, only to find that the telephone is inoperative. Intending to force the two out of the room, Burnham introduces propane gas into the room's air vents; Raoul, in conflict with Burnham and Junior, dangerously increases the amount of gas. Unable to seal the vents, Meg ignites the gas while she and Sarah cover themselves with fireproof blankets, causing an explosion which vents into the room outside and causes a fire, injuring Junior.
The Altmans make several attempts to call for help, including signaling a neighbor with a flashlight through the opening of a ventilation pipe, but the neighbor ignores it. Meg then taps into the main telephone line and gets through to her ex-husband Stephen (Patrick Bauchau). As she tries to explain their situation, the intruders cut the line, abruptly ending the call.
When all attempts to get into the room fail, Junior lets slip that there is much more money in the safe than he let on and gives up on the robbery. About to leave the house, he is fatally shot by Raoul, who forces Burnham, at gunpoint, to finish the robbery. Stephen arrives at the home and is taken hostage by Burnham and Raoul-who severely beats him. To make matters worse, Sarah who has diabetes, suffers a seizure. Her emergency Glucagon syringe is in a refrigerator outside the panic room.
Raoul tricks Meg into thinking it is safe to temporarily leave the panic room. He uses an unconscious Stephen to trick Meg into momentarily leaving the panic room, Burnham enters it, finding Sarah motionless on the floor.
After retrieving the syringe for Sarah, Meg struggles briefly with Raoul, who is thrown into the panic room, his gun knocked out of his hand. As Meg throws the syringe into the panic room, Burnham frantically locks himself, Raoul, and Sarah inside, crushing Raoul's hand in the sliding steel door. Meg, now with the gun, begs the two intruders over the intercom to give Sarah the injection. After some time, Burnham, who has shown no interest in hurting either Meg or Sarah, gives Sarah the injection and while doing so tells Sarah that he did not want this, and that the only reason that he agreed to this was to give his own child a better life. After giving Sarah the injection Sarah thanks Burnham & Meg is told that Sarah is now alright.
Two policemen later arrive at the house following up on Stephen's earlier 911 call and complaints from the neighbors. This prompts Raoul into threatening to kill Sarah. Sensing the potential danger to her daughter, Meg lies to the officers, and they leave. Meanwhile, Burnham opens the safe and removes the $22 million in bearer bonds inside. As the robbers attempt to leave while using Sarah as a hostage, Meg hits Raoul with a sledgehammer and Burnham flees.
After a badly injured Stephen shoots at Raoul and misses, Raoul disables him and prepares to kill Meg with the sledgehammer, but Burnham, upon hearing Stephen's screams of pain, returns to the house and shoots Raoul dead, stating, "You'll be okay now" to Meg and her daughter before leaving.The police, alerted by Meg's suspicious behavior earlier, arrive in force and capture Burnham, who lets the bearer bonds go; they fly away with the wind.
A few days later, Meg and Sarah search the newspaper for a new, smaller home, having recovered from their harrowing ordeal.
