Panic

PANIC (2000) **1/2 William H. Macy, Neve Campbell, Tracey Ullman, Donald Sutherland, John Ritter, Barbara Bain, David Dorfman. (Dir: Henry Bromell)

Character actor William H. Macy has that certain beleagured, world-weary, kicked-dog look about him that fits like a cheap suit but all the same a perfect match for his deceptive moping demeanor. In this black comedy he plays Alex, a depressed contract killer who decides to see a therapist to come to terms with `the family business' with his overbearing father (the always underrated and subtly silky Sutherland) who taught Macy in his preadolescence the fine art of killing for a career. Unbeknownst to his adoring wife Martha (a surprisingly low-key dramatic turn by comedy superstar Ullman) and his precociously wise-beyond-his-years 6 year old Sammy (newcomer Dorfman; cute kid), Alex is seeing Dr. Parks (Ritter) on the sly and his only confidante is his mother (Bain, who seems to have been off the screen radar for some time) who seems like one shrewd cookie (after all that's how her husband got his job!) Unsure of the risk in seeing the shrink, Alex continues when he meets in the waiting room Sarah (the wonderful Campbell, in a nicely played role), a beautiful young woman, who is seeing another psychologist in the adjoining office building. He is immediately smitten by her but remains guarded the entire time, plotting for the right moment which never seems to come.

What makes matters worse is his latest offing: to kill Parks. This conflict of interest gnaws at him and only adds fuel to the fire for his desire for Sarah, who also harbors a yen for the gloomy fellow traveler. All this adds up for some sly dialogue, innuendo and ultimately a final confrontation with Alex facing his fears - his father, his `job' and Sarah over his family. Macy is in fine form with his mild-mannered family man clearly at odds with his other life and the desire he has for Campbell who also acquits herself nicely as the bluntly spoken bisexual freespirit. The film pales in comparison to the latest splinter faction of hitmen in analysis fodder (`Grosse Pointe Blank', `Analyze This' and `The Sopranos') yet it balances the fine line of comedy and tragedy particularly thanks to the cool undulating tones of Sutherland (witness his threat to his son in a bowling alley bar that goes from ice cold to sunny as he impromptu dances with a waitress). If you like your noir with a touch of comedy this is the film for you.

I recently caught up with this little gem of a film on cable. It took me by surprise, even though, I should have expected it from the team involved with this movie.

Henry Bromwell directed this film with a sure hand, and it shows. One always wonders about the secret life of hit killers. One doesn't have to go too far to realize they probably are one's own neighbors, or social acquaintances, or even friends; they're no different from us, at least on the surface.

In this story, the grandfather, is a despicable character who does not hesitate in eliminating anyone for the right price. He has no scruples in teaching the ropes to his own son, and even to the grandson!

Alex, is a man living in turmoil. He knows what he has done in the past and suddenly is coming to realize the consequence of his actions. He has to see someone to help him find peace with himself. In going to Dr. Parks, he is trying to find absolution, although, he doesn't find it there. On the contrary, there is a dramatic twist when Alex learns about who is supposed to kill next.

Alex, brilliantly portrayed by William H. Macy, mesmerizes us. Not only is he a fantastic actor, but he makes us believe he is that man. One of the best things in the movie is the late John Ritter. He is equally convincing as Dr. Parks, the man who unravels the mystery.

Donald Sutherland, as the grandfather is perfect. He is a natural actor in everything he does. Neve Campbell surprised in her pivotal role of Sarah. She shows a capability and range that are incredible. Tracey Ullman is Martha, the suffering wife, and she doesn't get to do much. Also Barbara Bain, in a rare appearance, is the grandmother from hell. David Dorfman, is a delight in the film. He shows a maturity beyond his years.

Panic has a great cast. The acting is superb. An illogical and unrealistic plot, however, dooms the film. Maybe, I've been spoiled by the Godfather movies or other well-constructed crime films, but big-time hit men earning the money it takes to live in Macy's neighborhood, as depicted in this film, don't walk, talk and live like college professors. They have heavy mob connections or if international killers, live shadow lives away from common life. Macy is obviously pushing 50, yet we are to believe that after earning his living by contract killing since his youth, he is suddenly overcome by the realization that his chosen "profession" and his father are evil? What planet do you live on people? That's a farce!

The `banality of evil' has long been a source of fascination for those artists exploring the dark side of human nature. Gloomy houses filled with vengeful spirits or twitching psychos hold less fear for the common man than the sudden discovery that the `people next door,' the PTA member down the street, or the social director for the local church youth group are the true villains who surround us unnoticed, people whose very `normalcy' serves to mask the evil within. For only when the mask is finally ripped off and we at last get to see what we have been living next to all along do we come to realize how very tenuous is our security and safety in this world. What could be scarier than that?

In this category of works, `Panic' emerges as a genuinely chilling, emotionally unsettling psychological thriller, short on gratuitous violence and long on characterization and mood. Writer/director Henry Bromell has fashioned a dark, disturbing tale of a man named Alex (William H. Macy) who seeks the professional help of a therapist played by John Ritter. Alex's problem is a decidedly unique one: it seems that, since he's been a teen, he has served as hit man for his father (Donald Sutherland) whose mysterious, shady `business' apparently calls for the elimination of certain parties at the request of unknown `clients.' Alex is a seemingly good man, devoted to his wife and son, who has somehow found a way to distance himself emotionally and morally from the heinous crimes he commits. Yet, obviously, Alex has arrived at a point of moral reckoning – for how else to explain his sudden need to unburden himself to this total stranger? Macy gives a brilliant performance as Alex, showing, in his totally understated reactions to the people and events around him, what it is like to be buttoned up so tight that even with all the mayhem and filial abuse he's experienced in his life he is able to truthfully say `I don't know if I've ever been angry' – even at his father who got him into this life in the first place.

What makes `Panic' so unsettling is that it violates all our comforting notions about the ties that bind father to son and family members to each other. Rather than setting a fine moral example for their child, both of Alex's parents, Michael (Donald Sutherland) and Deidre (Barbara Bain), have actually groomed him to become a cold-blooded killer. Yet, life seems to go on in surface ease within the confines of not only that family but Alex's own family as well. Alex keeps the truth hidden from both his wife, Martha (Tracy Ullman) and his 6-year old son, Sammy (David Dorfman), allowing them to function almost as any other normal suburban family.

Yet, Alex has other, perhaps more mundane problems as well. He meets a somewhat disturbed 23-year old fellow patient named Sarah (Neve Campbell) to whom he feels an immediate attraction. Tentatively, these two lost souls grope towards each other, both of them hoping to find in the other that which is lacking in themselves. But in many ways, Alex is actually a man of strong moral character in certain aspects of his life and he agonizes over taking the initial step towards consummating their relationship, knowing it will harm the wife he loves but no longer feels attracted to. Bromell's sophisticated screenplay refuses to spell out every psychological detail for the audience, allowing us to make our own connections, draw our own conclusions and reach our own moral judgments. As director as well, Bromell establishes and maintains a mood of almost heartbreaking melancholy and sadness. Characters rarely speak above a hush; the camera glides slowly along taking in the scene at a leisurely, unhurried pace; and the haunting musical score heightens the strange unreality of the world which these people have come to inhabit, a world that seems to call into question everything we take for granted in the area of morality, ethics and basic common decency.

The performances from every member of the cast (right on down to little David Dorfman) are letter perfect. Each of these fine actors knows exactly the right note to hit in every scene, never cutting against the grain of understated seriousness that Bromell has established.

`Panic' is a small, underrated gem that lingers long in one's memory.

I gotta stop buying DVDs sight unseen. It happened with Affliction and now with Panic. I bought into the rave reviews and felt disappointed after watching it. This could have been a truly great film...if ONLY they had focused on the father/son relationship and left that godawful May/September romance on the cutting room floor. If only Neve Campbell's character had some smarts, maybe even a little class to separate her from the rest of the LA airheads it MIGHT have worked. She was nothing but a tease and it distracted from the movie greatly. She and Macy had NO chemistry together and their scenes were a total waste of time. Every time they were on screen together, you keep asking the same thing: When are we going to see Sutherland again? I'm a child of the 60's when movies were VERY good. So, when I hear some young person praise a recent movie as great, I must remember that "great" movies made today would have been only "good" in the sixties. I refer back to what I call the John Carpenter Syndrome. It works like this. John Carpenter made some good thrillers/horrors back in the seventies. But compared to the crap being produced today, they seem like GREAT films. People must remember that they're good films existing in a garbage heap of crap will seem better than they are.