In this era of cell phones, two-ways, Blackberries and Wi-Fi, it's become more and more difficult for horror screenwriters to create scenarios as helpless as the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Hills Have Eyes, in which victims are completely cut off from the outside world and must fend for themselves against those wishing them harm. Sure, you still have movies like Wrong Turn mining that territory, but how many times can you have someone's car break down on a deserted road through the middle of nowhere in this day and age? Ever hear of an interstate?
The Plot
With that in mind, P2 has managed to find one of the last remaining urban deserts for its setting: an underground parking garage. It's late at night on Christmas Eve, and workaholic Angela Bridges (Rachel Nichols) is, as usual, the last person left in her office building. There are two security guards working the late shift -- Karl (Philip Akin) in the lobby and Thomas (Wes Bentley) in the garage -- but it turns out that one of them is a madman who's been stalking Angela, while the other is his first victim. Since Karl is black, and this is a horror movie, I'll let you guess who's who.
Soon enough, Thomas takes Angela captive and forces her to -- Oh no! -- eat Christmas dinner with him. It's clear that the guard is obsessed with her, but otherwise he's non-threatening. He's actually downright Boy Scout-ish, from his youthful looks to his upbeat, aw-shucks attitude. He's sort of a male, CW version of Misery's Annie Wilkes: a rabid, overeager fan who only occasionally hints at a darker side.
Still, Angela is understandably freaked out by the whole handcuffed-to-a-table thing, so she makes several breaks for it. Each time, however, she runs into roadblocks, from non-working phones to gated exits to locked doors and guard dogs. Can she find her way out, or will she be forced to stay for pumpkin pie? Regardless of the outcome, the moral of the story is clear: family is more important than work. And always keep a carrier pigeon handy.
The End Product
P2 is written to frustrate you. It's a series of near misses and almost rescues that leaves you as exasperated as the damsel in distress. But it's the inadvertent frustrations that prove most troublesome. I mean, I know that Thomas is supposed to be mentally unhinged, but is he so out of touch with reality that he doesn't realize that: A) everything he's doing is being recorded on security cameras, and B) there are probably better places to hide a kidnap victim than your workplace?
Thomas' incompetence (trusting her unchained, leaving her cell phone lying around, seating her at a table with sharp utensils) renders him all the more ill-suited to horror movie villainy. He's just not intimidating -- partly because we know he's not going to harm Angela, and partly because even when he does "lose it," he sounds like a spoiled teenager yelling at his mom. Plus, he's a security guard, for goodness' sake; all he carries is a stun gun and a ballpoint pen. In the end, you almost feel sorry for him when he gets a comeuppance that seems wildly out of proportion to his sins.
Some of the fault for the limp villain lies with Bentley's performance, while some of it lies in the script. This is surprising, given that the French writing team of Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur gave us the terrifying Haute Tension and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes. Compared to those brutal films, P2 is a lightweight, both emotionally and aesthetically. For all its modern trappings, P2 turns out to be a familiar, by-the-numbers tale that just happens to take place in a unique setting.
The Skinny
- Acting: D (Bentley is a laughable villain.)
- Direction: B (Newcomer Franck Khalfoun does what he can. The opening sequence in particular is jarringly effective.)
- Script: D (Should've been titled Dumb vs. Dumber)
- Gore / Effects: C (The level of gore is higher than implied in a marketing campaign that placed it squarely in the "thriller" realm.)
- Overall: C- (Although it cuts to the chase quickly, the chase is pretty darn dull.)
P2 is directed by Franck Khalfoun and is rated R for strong violence/gore, terror and language.
