One plot point that I don't get is, why does the whole SWAT team come storming in at the end?
The best I can figure is that when the two cops came to the door earlier, Jodie Foster tried to talk them down, but they had a hunch.
But come on ... you don't call out the swat team for a hunch. I imagine most police would walk away after a 60-second "everything's OK" speech.
Wow, 10 days and no replies??? For a major plot point like this?
shareLOL you're suprised that there's no reply? :) Sure, 10 days since you asked, but 9 YEARS since the movie came out! :)
shareI don't think they were tipped off from the hunch alone. They probably took into consideration the two-three calls about the residence (1 or 2 complaints from the neighbors, and 1 from the husband). Then to add when the cop comes to the door, Jodie Foster is veryy suspicious. Such as not allowing them to check the house, closing the second door behind her to obscure their view, and some other factors.
At first, I thought it was a plot hole too, but I after seeing it on HBO again it all made sense (somewhat).
The cop at the door told her to blink her eyes if anything was wrong; I could not tell if she did or not ???
Shoud I be me?
I think when she said the comment about "like as if someone were in the house holding me captive" the cops realized something was wrong.
If only real cops were that smart.
Hail to the king, baby.
I agree with this statement from scenoid ... my assumption is due to all those hints (i.e. calls and her behavior which perhaps she did blink when cop asked her to)... lead them to stake out house.
Maybe they saw husband car was there but she didn't mention that he was actually coming by and they finally realized problems when the ending fight broke out (and heard the gun shot) leading them to break into home.
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Some of my guesses:
The husband never came back home, even though they lived very close to each other. Jodie's character also never acknowledged that he came to her home. So there's a missing person case at the least.
Land line to the house is dead and her cell is also not receiving any signals.
The criminals likely drove and parked nearby. The cops could have checked for suspicious vehicles and ran plate checks.
And finally, Jodie was surprisingly rude and theatrical with the officers. A veteran police officer would probably be better than us in telling signs when someone is lying.
I just saw the movie so I'll bite.
What tipped them off? The script. They had a call from an ex-husband, noise complaints from the neighbors, a 9-1-1 call only giving the address*, and a pretty believable explanation. The first cop was suspicious that something may be going on and he gave her ample opportunity to communicate that. It was a pretty huge jump from that to SWAT breaking down the door.
I suppose it would have been too sensible for her to remember that there is no audio surveillance and calmly tell the officers everything (bad guys have her daughter so she's playing along) including to keep a distance, etc... If the bad guys could hear her then it would've made a lot more sense for her to send the cops away.
*Unnecessary when using a land-line as the operator gets the address immediately.
<<I suppose it would have been too sensible for her to remember that there is no audio surveillance and calmly tell the officers everything (bad guys have her daughter so she's playing along) including to keep a distance, etc... If the bad guys could hear her then it would've made a lot more sense for her to send the cops away.>>
Actually, there was an intercom system. She didn't "think" they could here her because they were supposed to be inside and she didn't think the intercom was 2-way, but being so scared, she might have wanted to keep quiet just in case. Plus, they just moved in that day, so she doesn't really know how much they can and cannot see. There are just a lot of unknowns in that house and when one's kid's life is on the line, you don't take any chances. If she had blinked, no matter what, the cop would've reacted.
I could understand a few police officers coming back to double check, maybe jumping the fence and looking around the back and at most kick down a door. But there's no way a cop would call in a swat team for this. Imagine if it was nothing and they called in like 20 swat officers to break into a house and arrest everybody. It's costly to do this and the owner could probably sue considering she specifically told them to there was no problem and they went in anyway.
One point i found annoying was how the cop was asking her if she was unable to speak and could just blink. The most logical assumption to the officer would be that the bad guys are right behind the door and listening, and therefore asking her that question could make matters worse (the bad guys could think that she DID blink to them even though she didn't). I highly doubt they thought "hmm... maybe there are guys upstairs watching her on camera but unable to hear this conversation" because then she would have just told them. The only logical reason that she couldn't TELL them about the situation and could only sign language it is that they can hear her but they can't see her. This is the type of question you'd ask over a phone call when the bad guys could only hear the other person and not the police officer.
Of course we know the reason she didn't tell the cops is because she didn't want them running in and getting her daughter killed. Luckily for the cops though that they were late and the situation was already over.
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When the officer asked her to blink her eyes she says "You mean like there were other people in the house or something?"
That line is essential, because the officers never mentioned anything about more people but she IS hinting that.
That's true.
shareThe thing is though, is that she doesn't need to beat around the bush at all.
She could look the officers and tell them everything. The robbers are locked in the panic room with no audio.
"Ok guys. Heres the deal. There are 2 robbers locked in my panic room with my diabetic daughter. They will kill her if you come in the house. They can see us talking right now, but cannot hear us. You need to pretend like Im talking you down and getting you to go away. Now go drive away and come back with the flipping SWAT team."
so why didn't she blink while she said "you mean like there ...."? I just watched it and I did not see her blink
shareCan you tell me what was inside the vault? What was Forrest Whitaker's character looking for?
shareBank bonds - $22m in total.
Please Stop Staring At My Signature. You're making it uncomfortable.
Thanks sfx. I need to check out this film again. I dont get how those men knew what would be in there.
shareThe only intruder that didn't know about the bonds was Rahoul. Burnham knew they were there as he built the Panic Room but he didn't know how much there was. Junior on the other hand was very well informed and seemed to know a lot about the previous owner and Altman family such as the divorce.
As for the thing that tipped the police off. I believe it had something to do with Jodie saying "You guys are good, you mean if someone was in the house or something? They really train you guys huh" she then brings her hand up to her face and brushes her hair out the way, upwards.
Now, to me that's pretty much saying "That was one lucky guess, you mean as if someone else was in the house? You guys are smart, how did you guess!" and then with her brushing her hair upwards (most people would brush it to side) I think she was hinting that they we're in the PR (It would be on the police database that the house has a PR and what floor it was on etc) and she brushed her hair upwards to show that she was pointing upstairs.
Never thought about the brushing up of the hair...guess that makes sense too.
Junior was related to the guy that died. When he was rattling off how much he would get, he said he would make an anonymous call so the bonds could be found and he could get his inheritance. He then started mumbling about the many relatives that he would have to split it with...which is probably why he wanted to go in and get them himself. Splitting it with 2 or 3 people and getting a few million is a lot more than getting $900,000; which is what he said he would get after all the relatives got their share.
"Junior on the other hand was very well informed and seemed to know a lot about the previous owner and Altman family such as the divorce."
Junior is the previous tenant's grandson.
He tells Raoul he had "babysat" his grandfather every week/day for two years to find out where the old man hid the money because, like Burnham pointed out, as the family's black sheep, he would receive his share the least from the will. His determination paid off as he's the only one his grandfather told about the safe.
So naturally, he knew about the housesale details as it's his family who sold the house. He also knew the new tenants wouldn't move in for 14 days after signing the contract, but he messed up. He interpreted "14 days" as three weeks (five working days) instead of the actual two weeks.
Very nice, mcvillain.
shareReally? It was explained throughout the movie a few times... stop playing with your phone.
shareNot only was Fosters character acting rather suspicious, but we already know some neighbours were listening in. They may well have heard the ruckas Foster was making immediately proceeding the final battle (smashing glass, cameras, gunshots etc) and called again to say there was DEFINITELY something wrong this time. The fact that the same policeman from before arrived on the scene tells us he wasn't entirely convinced by her story and so hung around for a bit. He may well have put the team on standby in case he heard anymore news.
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