Tagline: A new level of fear. Get it? It’s set on a parking garage floor. Or level. So the female protagonist experiences both a literal new level of fear in her life, and an amount of fear on this specific level within a physical structure.
Curiosity: It was written by French horror director Alexandre Aja, who helmed High Tension and the Hills Have Eyes reboot. Even his misfires (Mirrors) are worth checking out.
Plot: Angela (Rachel Nichols, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) is a hardworking bean counter, number cruncher, and boobs-haver. She works hard all the time, even on Christmas Eve! In fact, she’s the last person to leave her office. Which means she’s the last person to leave her office building. Which means she’s the last person to enter the parking structure where her car is located. Which means she’s the last person to enter… P2! This is significant, since the parking lot attendant, Thomas (Wes Bentley, playing what I assume would’ve happened to his character in American Beauty), is bat shit insane. He’s obsessed with Angela, to the point that he kidnaps her, tries to force her into having Christmas dinner with him, and even kills those who he perceives as her enemies. Also, he’s a big Elvis fan.
Thoughts: P2 would’ve been totally awesome if it had been filmed/set in the ’70s. As is, there are too many distracting plot holes. Nothing that totally derails the story, but there are enough nagging tidbits that kept me from getting into this torture horror flick. Angela is locked inside the parking garage with Thomas. All exits are supposed to be sealed, and it’s established early on that she can’t get cell phone reception down there. But she never tries to find a fire escape. Plus, a lot of modern parking garages have an automatic sensor to let people out. Both things could have been explained via dialogue – “Even the fire escape is locked! I can only open the gate with a key!” – but aren’t.
It also bothers me that P2 regards 911 as being so incompetent. It’s 911’s policy to dispatch help if they receive a call but are unable to speak with the caller – better safe than sorry. P2 aggressively ignores this rule. Even when Angela gets the cops to come – and describes Thomas as her captor over the phone – they make no effort to investigate him upon arriving. That’s sloppy, or maybe they’re not thinking straight because it’s Christmas Eve. It’s debatable. What isn’t debatable is when Angela screams to get their attention from 10, maybe 20 feet away. We’re talking a full-throated scream in a room with tons of echo, yet the cops hear nothing. Basically, P2 doesn’t have enough valid reasons for keeping Angela trapped.
Reflection: The leads were good though. Also, this scene was intense:
No comments:
Post a Comment