P2 stars Rachel Nichols as Angela Bridges, a young high flier who is all work and no play. She’s working late as usual on Christmas Eve and when the time comes to leave via the building’s underground parking garage, her car won’t start. She gets a little too snippy with helpful security guard Thomas (Wes Bentley) and soon finds herself being held prisoner by the awkward guard. It transpires that Thomas is obsessed with Angela and he’s determined to make their first (and last) Christmas together a memorable one.
The film starts well enough taking it’s time in establishing it’s environment and characters, but by doing this, it then takes a little too long for the action to kick in. Nichols is great as always but Wes Bentley’s over the top acting only proves that he’s unlikely to ever secure a role to match his part in American Beauty again.
A big plus is that P2 is quite gory with plenty of wince inducing moments throughout (bashed in heads, burst guts, dog bites and my least favourite part…broken finger nail) but it’s not enough to make this a strong offering.
On the downside, there isn’t any stand out set pieces and Thomas’s promise that he won’t hurt Angela only serves as a reminder to the audience that Nichol’s heroine is never in any real danger.
OVERALL SUMMARY
I initially had high hopes for this as it had a wonderful creative team behind it, but in the end, it’s a mediocre stalker flick at best.