Main cast: Rachel Nichols (Angela Bridges), Wes Bentley (Thomas Barclay), Simon Reynolds (Jim Harper), Stephanie Moore (Lorraine Bridges), Philip Akin (Karl Donson), and Miranda Edwards (Jody McKlennan)
Director: Franck Khalfoun
It’s Christmas Eve, so what better way to usher in the celebrations than to indulge in gratuitous violence on women, right? That’s what Angela Bridges discovers when she stays behind late to finish up some work, and find herself trapped in the building – which would be closed for the following three days – with the crazy security guard Thomas Barclay who is crazy about her. The operative word here is “crazy”. He’s not taking no for an answer, and he’s not above employing violence to get what he wants.
Rachel Nichols does a pretty good job as a frosty somewhat bitchy woman who is forced to get inventive in order to survive. But on the whole, this movie gets increasingly ridiculous from start to end, and it seems to know it, as the script has Thomas spewing some really corny and stupid lines that make me laugh. Mr Bentley’s delivery of those lines is wooden, but somehow that makes those lines even more amusing in a cheesy manner. I’ve to admit though, I’ve forgotten how good Wes Bentley looks as a deranged-type villain until I watch P2.
What this movie succeeds in doing, though, is to drive home how much of a death trap that buildings today can be. You know, all those locked gates, windows, elevators, and even the way basement car parks are laid out create a palpable sense of claustrophobia that feels more real and menacing than the hammy and ridiculous Thomas and his dog.
At the end of the day, P2 can often be too much like a cartoon for its own good, but it’s pretty serviceable at the end of the day as a no-nonsense thriller with some gritty atmosphere. Just don’t take it seriously.
