How many times have we heard a midlife crisis-sufferer say he'd kill for a better job? In PANIC, Alex (William H. Macy) really means it. He's a contract killer indentured to the man who taught him the business, his dad! (Donald Sutherland). Trying to work up the nerve to quit, Alex starts seeing a psychologist (John Ritter). Of course, in Alex's line of work, spilling one's guts to outsiders is drastically career-limiting, so now Alex has been ordered to bump off the hapless therapist. PANIC treats us to a few smiley face moments such as when Alex and the young son he adores share bedtime bonding time, and when Alex, seeking a bit of excitement outside his dull marriage, falls for a young fellow therapy patient (Neve Campbell). But when Alex’s father, looking to add future head count to the family business, gives his six-year old grandson his first lesson in killing (a squirrel) – the same lesson Alex got at the same tender age – things turn very, very dark. Macy, portraying a man struggling with 40 years' worth of suppressed rage, and the patrician-looking Sutherland, seemingly the perfect Grandfather until we see him violently lose his temper over some spilt model plane glue, make each of their characters too real for comfort.
PANIC (2000)
How many times have we heard a midlife crisis-sufferer say he'd kill for a better job? In PANIC, Alex (William H. Macy) really means it. He's a contract killer indentured to the man who taught him the business, his dad! (Donald Sutherland). Trying to work up the nerve to quit, Alex starts seeing a psychologist (John Ritter). Of course, in Alex's line of work, spilling one's guts to outsiders is drastically career-limiting, so now Alex has been ordered to bump off the hapless therapist. PANIC treats us to a few smiley face moments such as when Alex and the young son he adores share bedtime bonding time, and when Alex, seeking a bit of excitement outside his dull marriage, falls for a young fellow therapy patient (Neve Campbell). But when Alex’s father, looking to add future head count to the family business, gives his six-year old grandson his first lesson in killing (a squirrel) – the same lesson Alex got at the same tender age – things turn very, very dark. Macy, portraying a man struggling with 40 years' worth of suppressed rage, and the patrician-looking Sutherland, seemingly the perfect Grandfather until we see him violently lose his temper over some spilt model plane glue, make each of their characters too real for comfort.
