P2 is a bare-bones tale to say the least. A young female executive is working late on Christmas Eve in a New York high-rise. Exhausted, she finally heads down to the parking deck to head home. It turns out a psychotic security guard, who has been stalking her, is waiting. The next 90 minutes are a pure life and death struggle, all within the confines of the parking deck.
While the premise of P2 might have great potential for tension, it's mostly stuff we've seen before. Wes Bentley tries hard to be outright crazy and threatening as "Thomas", the not-so-friendly security guard. However, he never rises above the standard "creepy guy" role we've seen in dozens of other horror/suspense movies. In fact, he might have been creepier in American Beauty. Rachel Nichols does a decent job as the young executive. Although, wearing only a thin, low-cut dress for most of the film, the focus is usually more on her amazing breasts than her acting. She's mostly required to do a lot of running, jumping and screaming without falling out of her flimsy evening gown.
While the cat-and-mouse game in the parking garage plays out in an expected fashion, P2 does differentiate itself slightly in its willingness to be gory and graphically violent. A man is brutally (and repeatedly) smashed against a concrete wall by a car, a dog is impaled with a crowbar, and poor, psychotic Thomas even has one of his eyeballs bloodily popped. He's then burned alive as the camera lingers on his writhing body. The gore has an impact, but it can't replace actual tension and suspense, which P2 mostly lacks.
I kept looking for something truly unique about P2. Something to differentiate it from the myriad of slasher/suspense movies that come out each year. It's a well-made movie, but you'll get the feeling you're watching a rerun of a story you've seen many times before.
While the premise of P2 might have great potential for tension, it's mostly stuff we've seen before. Wes Bentley tries hard to be outright crazy and threatening as "Thomas", the not-so-friendly security guard. However, he never rises above the standard "creepy guy" role we've seen in dozens of other horror/suspense movies. In fact, he might have been creepier in American Beauty. Rachel Nichols does a decent job as the young executive. Although, wearing only a thin, low-cut dress for most of the film, the focus is usually more on her amazing breasts than her acting. She's mostly required to do a lot of running, jumping and screaming without falling out of her flimsy evening gown.
While the cat-and-mouse game in the parking garage plays out in an expected fashion, P2 does differentiate itself slightly in its willingness to be gory and graphically violent. A man is brutally (and repeatedly) smashed against a concrete wall by a car, a dog is impaled with a crowbar, and poor, psychotic Thomas even has one of his eyeballs bloodily popped. He's then burned alive as the camera lingers on his writhing body. The gore has an impact, but it can't replace actual tension and suspense, which P2 mostly lacks.
I kept looking for something truly unique about P2. Something to differentiate it from the myriad of slasher/suspense movies that come out each year. It's a well-made movie, but you'll get the feeling you're watching a rerun of a story you've seen many times before.