Post by BIGFANBOY on Nov 9, 2007 8:15:35 GMT -5
P2
Review by Gary Dean Murray
I am as much for the cinematic thriller as any other person is. Film has always been a medium for thrills. The Great Train Robbery, one of the first narrative films, had a shot where the bad guy unloaded his weapon toward the camera, scaring many of the patrons. Movies are a visual experience and a thrill ride. That said, P2 is one of biggest wastes of time and energy ever placed on film stock.
The plot stars out Christmas Eve with Angela (Rachel Nichols) working hard in her Central NYC office. It seems that this young woman is concentrating on her career over her personal life. A male co-worker comes in and makes an apology. It seems that he was inappropriate at the Christmas party. Angela does forgive him and goes about her business. Later than night she is leaving for underground parking garage, going down to P2 with an armload of presents and a hurried look. She says good night to Carl the doorman and travels another elevator to the underground parking garage.
Well, her BMW won’t start and she goes to the parking attendant station to summon a cab. Thomas (Wes Bentley) is the young man who works the parking garage and he makes an awkward attempt at impressing her by asking her to have Christmas Eve dinner with him. Angela is passive to his advances at best. She goes back to the lobby to wait for her cab. When the taxi shows, she discovers that she cannot get out of the building. Angela attempts to catch the cab by going back down to P2 in order to get back to ground level. There she is drugged.
On awakening, Angela is chained to a decorated table. She has been dressed in a revealing white outfit and Thomas sits across from her, serving her food. It seems that he is obsessed with all things Angela. With his attack dog by his side, Thomas tries to make an impression on Angela. Just as much as he tries, his advances repulse her. Then it becomes a cat and mouse game of Angela trying to convince Thomas to let her go.
That might have made a good movie. It could have been a two-person cat and mouse game, a battle of wits. Unfortunately the world of P2 is filled with the witless. Thomas has grand plans that include murder of those who have treated Angela badly. He carries in his heart a definite vision of what is right and what is wrong. The film is to be a slow burn; it all is a waiting for Angela to become empowered.
There are so many things that are wrong in the world of P2. The basic premise makes not a lick of sense, both in character and suspension of disbelief. In a NYC world post 9/11, the cops of P2 are the most inept beat patrollers in existence. They don’t notice anything is amiss while traveling around the garage levels and even miss a cell phone in front of their car. With guys like these on the force, we are doomed. The logic baby has been thrown under the bus. Couldn’t she just pull a fire alarm?
But Wes Bentley does a great job of playing psycho. He has the crazy eyes needed for the part, with a manic steely gauge. He is giving the audience a tangent performance from his American Beauty role. And I thought that Rachel Nichols plays the scream queen to a workman degree. She becomes our identity through this experience and we feel her trepidation.
Director Franck Khalfoun had all the pieces to make a tight little thriller. The premise could have played out with two people trying to out maneuver each other. Or he could have played on the idea of darkness and never let on who was behind the mayhem. But as it stands, the just bores for most of the running time. P2 has so little to recommend that it cannot be recommended. Save your money for something good.
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