Panic

"Panic" is a captivating, blurred-genre film about a brooding and conflicted middle aged hitman's reconciliation of infatuation with a younger uninhibited hairstylist, his love of wife and son, his duty to his employer/father with his own identity. Although the film has a nebulous purpose and an ambiguous ending, it is a superb production in almost all aspects. The characters' clarity and sincerity in such an improbable story may both fascinate and annoy audiences.

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!

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.

This is the kind of movie Hollywood needs to make more of. No extravagant props, no car chases, no clever one-liners. Just people dealing with being people.

William Macy plays an unlikely hitman who works for his father, Donald Sutherland. Macy is the dutiful son, Sutherland is the domineering father. Son wants out of the business, father won't let him. Macy loves his own son, played beautifully by David Dorfman ("The Ring"). He also starts to fall in love with Neve Campbell, a girl he meets in the waiting room of his psychiatrist's office.

It's an interesting juxtaposition of characters and the film follows the reluctant killer as he balances his own needs with those of his family. There are many touching scenes, especially between Macy and his little boy. And as you'd expect in a film with William Macy in it, there's a bit of humor too.

Excellent job all around, actors and director. Nice to know they can still make a good film in Hollywood on a small budget.

Why Panic never got a good theatrical release is easily seen: it's much too smart, and audiences would have probably had a difficult time with it, comparing it to American Beauty in its probing of a midlife crisis, and Sopranos and Analyze This in it's study of illegal goings-on amidst family life. Though Panic may seem to derive from unoriginal material, Brommel's lifelike characters coupled with deft dialogue and observant direction make the film a realistic look at the undoing of a middle aged man.

William H. Macy stars as Alex, a hitman who works for his father's (Sutherland) contract-killing business. He leads a double life, with his wife (Ullman) and son unaware of his real trade. In his middle-age, he becomes increasingly disgusted with what he has done all his life. Under his calm, collected facade stirs repressed resentment for his father's controlling grasp on his life. When he meets a young woman(Campbell) he feels invigored and decides it's time to quit the family business.

The fact that writer/director Henry Brommel decided to make the profession his main character was trying to break away from contract-killing is disposable. He could have easily substituted it with any undesirable profession; his characters are so well-developed and believable, scenes handled so smoothly and realisticly and dialogue written so insightfully and naturally that the focus falls on Macy's conflicted character rather than his job as a hitman. Brommel's script feels like a Shakespearean tragedy, with a definite theme of destiny running throughout.

In Alex, Macy creates a tragic, easily sympathetic character, and turns in yet another brooding, great performance, as can always be expected. Donald Sutherland is also effectively abrasive and abusive as his overbearing father, and Ullman's dramatic turn as Macy's wife is a welcome change for the comedian. Consider a scene in a bicycle shop, where her mood subtly darkens and peaks in an affecting scene of emotional confusion.

Henry Brommel's first feature, Panic is a film that is well-crafted in its sincerity. With a first-rate cast, a plausible script, terse dialogue, and nice direction, this character-study is hopefully just a taste of Brommel's aptness for creating characters that seem real.

8 out of 10