Panic (2000)

When Sarah (Neve Campbell) strikes up a conversation with a sad-eyed man called Alex (William H. Macy) at her therapist's office, she asks, "Are you one of those middle-aged guys who's tired of his marriage and thinking maybe a beautiful young thing could help him out?" She's right, but the source of Alex's depression is far from typical: he's a second-generation hit man who wants out, but his mom and dad won't let him quit.

Donald Sutherland makes Alex's laconic and utterly monstrous father the most frightening parent since John Huston in Chinatown. A series of flashbacks show how he introduced Alex to his trade, beginning with shooting squirrels in the woods. We never find out whether Alex's father has mob connections, and the fact that it's just a business to him ("This one's a big job, lots of moola, I'll buy your mother a Lexus") makes him all the more chilling. Alex's mother (the steely Barbara Bain) knows all about the family business, but his wife (Tracey Ullman) thinks he runs a mail-order company, and the only person he confides in is a therapist (John Ritter). When he meets and falls for Sarah, Alex realizes that he alone can stand up to his father, and he needs to act before his own son becomes the next apprentice.

Henry Bromell's debut film as a writer-director probes the same dark corners of the middle-aged male psyche as American Beauty and The Sopranos. Alex's tormented life is a symbol of the damage that parents can inflict on their children, and Bromell imbues his story with a tragic inevitability. Panic received a shamefully limited theatrical release, in spite of its rare combination of a great script and brilliant performances. It deserves to be rediscovered and appreciated by a much larger audience on home video. --Simon Leake Amazon.com

Panic

William Macy, Donald Sutherland, Barbara Bain, Neve Campbell, John Ritter, and the rest the great cast make the movie. The story is decent, but it is the acting that makes it worthwhile. Macy plays a complicated man that not only runs an online business, but is a hitman for his father, played by Sutherland, as well. His psychologist, played by Ritter, is understandably upset when Macy first tells him his professions. This isn't Macy's only problems. He seems disturbed over his life and looks for a new relationship with a young lady, played by Campbell. The movie centers on Macy with flashbacks of his youth, and what currently is happening in his life. It comes to a crashing climax when his father tries to bring his son into the business. Well worth a rental which I suggest unless you are already a fan of this cast or this type movie. I went ahead and ordered it since the cast was so good. I don't regret it. The DVD is good quality and it has decent replayability, but no extras on the DVD. - C. Luster February 27, 2008

"I sell mail order lawn ornaments and kitchen geegaws out of my house . . . and kill people"

William H. Macy nails it again. Another vehicle for his quietly desparate middle-aged man character. This time he is the junior partner in a father/son murder-for hire business (father is done well by the remotely creepy Donald Sutherland).

At mid-life, Macy's character decides he doesn't want to do it anymore, and seeks professional counseling. The psychologist turns out to be played by John Ritter, who turns in a fine performance. He is very likeable, and I really enjoyed seeing him in what must have been one of his last roles.

Along the way, Macy becomes romantically involves with another psych patient 1/2 his age - the superbly lovely Neve Campbell. The plot thickens further when grandpa Sutherland starts grooming Macy's little boy for the family business. And Macy gets a very difficult hit assignment.

The scriptwriting could have been a bit better. The time jumps confused me now and then (and you can't make Sutherland, or Macy, look 28 anymore). The cast is top shelf. Nice SoCal backgrounds w/ nice camera work all around. Suspenseful. Some smart humor. Maybe a bit predictable.

I enjoyed it . . . call it four and a half stars. February 27, 2008

Good but with faults

This is actually a fine film; far from first-rate, but a solid 3 on a scale of one to four. The acting is excellent; Macy can do no wrong. But there are shortcomings in the writing. There is gratuitous sex throughout, for example, and the ending is contrived and predictable. Yes, it's film noir. And not at all the "black comedy" Maltin describes. In short, this is worth your time, unless you'd rather watch something truly serious or funny. July 10, 2006

Solid

William H Macy stars as a hitman that wants to leave the business that his father built. He's not a very happy man despite a loving wife and a young child, and seeks the attention of a young woman whom he met a as a fellow patient at the therapist office...

Things get heated when he finds out his next job is to kill the therapist or his father will expose his secret life and destroy his marriage.


This is a very good film. Not such much action, but a good script that stays away from cliches and cheesy lines. The acting is top notch other than Neve Campbell who never really makes her presence felt. In fact, I'd say her acting was alot worse than it was in her first gig Scream years back.

Macy himself does the sad and lonely character really well. I'm not sure he has alot of depth... But he's obviousally found his niche in the acting world. He sort of like Samuel L Jackson in the since that he doesn't have alot of depth, but he's really good at what he does do well.

So why does this movie not get a higher grade?

Well, for one... William isn't really convincing that he's a hitman. Also, the poor job of Neve brings it down alittle... The movie also slightly drags because no action really happens. These things obviousally don't ruin the movie, but they keep it from being as good as it could have been. April 20, 2006

AWESOME MOVIE JUST AWESOME

This movie stars william h. macy as a hitman and may be his best acting performance ever. This movie is a true classic.

Macy has a wife(tracy ullman) and a sort of weird kid(kid from many scary movies, just can't remember). The kid may be my favorite character.

Macy's dad(donald sutherland) is a hitman also and got his son into the biz. His son doesn't want to be a hitman anymore and starts talking to a psychiatrist(john ritter).

Now I know that you are saying, this looks weird, it has TRACY ULLMAN as macy's wife, but it works, I never knew how great of an actress she was. She's better than when I was left speechless by marlon wayan's performance as a serious actor in requiem for a dream. Donald sutherland is great, and just like ullman and macy, I think that this is John Ritter's best ever performace. I'm being serious.

Whoever made this movie is EXTREMELY creative by using all of these actors to play roles they have never doen before, brilliant but who else would have thought of it. With the way they cast the characters, you think it starts out as a joke but gets real serious real fast and this movie will not let go of you until the end.

So add another favorite performance from me played by actress neve campbell, and you have one hell of a movie. She is someone who is hard to figure out in this and a very interesting part of the story.

Cetainly not the best movie ever, but is not looking to far up from movies like requiem for a dream status.

March 22, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...