MovieChat Forums > Panic Room (2002) Discussion > Has this movie dated or not, from a tech...

Has this movie dated or not, from a technical point of view?


I watched this movie the other day on TV, for the first time since 2002. From a technical point of view, I'm wondering if others think that the movie has dated or not? I found that it has, but not enough to ruin enjoyment of it. A couple of areas:

1) Nobody uses landlines anymore, and I doubt criminals would even bother cutting a phone line today

2) A panic room in 2011 would almost certainly have an internet connection that doesn't rely on a phone line (such as cable, or satellite). It would be much easier to contact the outside world this way. I'm surprised that even in 2002, this wasn't thought of when designing the panic room, although the panic room could have been built before this was possible.

3) Having 1 individual CRT monitor per video camera is *very* 80s/90s (I always think of Scarface when I see this). These days, you could just have one large monitor and have all the camera images shown simultaneously on a single screen.

4) VCRs are obsolete - all recording now would be to a hard drive or DVD.

Other than these few minor issues, the movie still holds up well nearly a decade on.

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What dates it most for me are the CGI shots, swooping in and out of keyholes, through air vents, furniture, etc. Not because the shots are technically bad but because they're gratuitous: a director playing around with a new toy just to show off.

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Nobody uses landlines anymore? What the hell are you talking about?

And VCRs were already obsolete in 2002 indeed.

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Obsolete in '02! Man, I still used mine until a few years back.

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Adults still use landlines, junior.

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[deleted]

See the date on my post. I still have a landline and a cell phone and always will as long as both are available. All my 3 siblings do too.

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Not so much dated as contrived. The issues mention existed when the film was released. Guns and cell phones existed then as now and the multi-million dollar mega (for NYC) house would certainly have all of the above as well as alarm systems inside and out.

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