P2 (2007) Synopsis:
The story centers on a corporate climber (Nichols) who gets stuck working late on Christmas Eve and finds herself the target of an unhinged security guard (Bentley). With no help in sight, the woman must overcome physical and psychological challenges to survive.
P2 (2007) Movie Review:
This claustrophobic thriller is so bracingly simple that it actually becomes a bit dull as the violent histrionics increase. Although it's skilfully made, there's just nothing to it. And what's here feels badly contrived.
Angela (Nichols) is a Manhattan workaholic who stays in the office too long on Christmas Eve. She's late for a family dinner, so is understandably frazzled when she gets into the underground garage, level P2, to finds her car won't start. The only person around is the parking attendant Tom (Bentley), but he has an unhealthy interest that turns nasty as he kidnaps her and chains her to a table so they can have a romantic Christmas dinner. And it gets much, much worse.
If you're not entertained by watching a crazed nutcase terrorise a woman for 98 minutes, there's not much to see here. Sure, the film is packed with genuinely creepy moments, truly vicious violence and some good jolts as Angela breaks free and uses whatever she can find as a weapon of survival. But Tom is a ludicrously simplified Norman Bates type who's so daft that you just want to laugh at him, and Bentley never finds anything terribly interesting under the surface.
At least the filmmakers set things up well, as Angela's frustrating evening is readily identifiable, punctuated with some terrific red herrings that get us into a jittery mood. And the atmospheric car park is pretty scary too. But the moment she's captured by Tom, the film starts slipping, and we can feel the script being stretched out to feature length with extended set pieces that never work because they're so unlikely.
As a result, it gets tedious very quickly: she's running and crying, he's increasingly crazed. From the gratuitously broken fingernail to a gruesome scene involving Tom's snarling dog, we just don't believe it. Decent moments of tension, like the investigating cops or the chaotic car chase, just aren't enough to compensate for Tom's lame dialog ("After all I've done for you, why would you be so mean to me?"). And the preposterous final series of events leave us as anxious to get out of the cinema as Angela is to get out of that garage.
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P2 (2007) review written by: Rich Cline
7th September, 2008 
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