P2
FU
Parking garage's are pretty scary
places. Despite being only steps away from your office or the mall,
it's like being transported into a dark and grimy underworld full of
shadows. The concrete walls are cold and without detail. Sounds
bounce off of everything, especially footsteps, leading you to
believe that someone may be following you. There are isolated spots
where anyone or anything can be lurking, just waiting to grab you. It
should be no surprise that parking garages have become the setting
for a few horror movies.
P2 is a 2007 horror film starring
Rachel Nichols (Alias, Conan The Barbarian) as Angela Bridges, an
overworked businesswoman trying to see her family for Christmas
dinner. She is the last to leave her Manhattan office and when she
gets to her car on level P2, it won't start. She goes to the security
office and meets a security guard named Thomas (Wes Bentley, American
Beauty, The Hunger Games). She asks him to let her onto the elevator
to go upstairs and call a cab, but he insists on trying to help start
her car. Thomas also invites her to have Christmas dinner with him,
but she rebuffs his invitation When that fails, he agrees to let her
use the elevator. When her cab arrives, she discovers that she is
locked in the building and the cab drives away. When she returns to
the garage, someone grabs her from behind and knocks her out with
chloroform. She awakens in the security office wearing a dress and
chained to a table. Thomas confesses that he has been watching her
via the security cameras and is in love with her. He takes Angela to
a secluded part of the garage where he has tied up her co-worker,
Jim. Jim drunkenly advanced on Angela at a party, but she later
accepted his apology. Thomas, angry at Jim for forcing himself on
Angela, viciously beats him with a flashlight before repeatedly
hitting him with a car. Angela escapes and tries to use an elevator,
but it flushed out by a fire hose from Thomas. She goes around
smashing the security cameras while Thomas has to deal with two
police officers. Will Angela be able to escape the parking garage?
You just beat my high score on Angry Birds!
The biggest problem with P2 is that
it's boring. Don't get me wrong, it's not one of those horror movies
where nothing happens, like YellowBrickRoad. In fact, P2 has a lot of
action and violence, it's just not particularly thrilling or
entertaining. The movie is your average girl versus a stalker movie
and we've seen that before. The real world setting of the parking
garage does serve the movie well as it is believable and people have
a genuine fear of them. P2 doesn't do enough character development in
my mind which makes it feel so boring. We need to route for Angela to
make it out alive and I never felt much connection with her. Part of
the problem is making her a workaholic and not enough of a loving or
caring person. I understand they were going with a connection between
Angela and a lonely Thomas, but her character just felt too cold and
distant. Most of the movie is your usual cat-and-mouse game seen in
lots of other horror movies.
Wes Bentley's performance is very good
and helps keep the movie from falling into a painful watch. His
gleefully delirious Thomas is fun to watch as he is both vicious
towards and hopelessly devoted to Angela. He wants to help her out of
the car when she's hurt but then curses her when she leaves him.
Rachel Nichols plays Angela well, I just think the character needed
more layers for me to really cheer for her. Her cleavage deserved a supporting actress spot because it is prominently on display. P2 has a lot of violence
and a surprising amount of gore. There was a scene where Angela
fights Thomas's dog which I didn't like because I am not a fan of
violence towards animals, especially when the scene is so vicious and
bloody as this one was. The movie kept showing shots of “P2”
painted on the walls of the garage, just in case we forgot the name
of the movie. It's understandable because there is no real reason to
remember it other than that's the level Angela's car is parked on.
That's one lucky axe
P2 has some good moments of violence
and gore and good performances, but that's about it. There isn't much
of a story and character development could have and should have been
much better. It actually had a wide release in theaters and did
horrendously, earning just over $2 million. While the movie is not
horrendous, it just wasn't good. There is nothing special about it
and no real entertainment.
4.5/10
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