20150527: Thriller Review--P2

P2

1. Fundamentals.
1. Title: P2
2. IMDb: Users rated this 5.9/10 (24,482 votes)
3. Rotten Tomatoes:
   35% of critics liked it of 69 critical reviews posted
   36% of viewers liked it from 67,662 ratings
   Critics Consensus: P2 is full of gore, but low on suspense, featuring a cat-and-mouse plot; has been done many times before.


4. Status: Released
5. Release date: 2007-11-09
6. Production Companies: Summit Entertainment
7. Tagline: No tagline found.


8. Budget:  8,000,000 USD
9. Revenue: 7,766,240 USD (Box Office Mojo, world-wide figure)
10. Runtime: 98 minutes.
11. Genres: Horror, Thriller


12. Directed by: Franck Khalfoun. Written by: Franck Khalfoun, Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseur.


13. Starring: Wes Bentley as Thomas, Rachel Nichols as Angela Bridges, Simon Reynolds as Bob Harper, Philip Akin as Karl, Stephanie Moore as Jody, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as man in elevator, Grace Lynn Kung as woman in elevator, Bathsheba Garnett as homeless woman, Philip Williams as Cop #1, Arnold Pinnock as Cop #2


14. TMDb overview: Angela, a corporate climber, gets stuck working late on Christmas Eve and finds herself the target of an unhinged security guard. With no help in sight, the woman must overcome physical and psychological challenges to survive.


2. Setup and Plot


1. Angela is an executive in NYNY trying to finish up her high-priority tasks before leaving to go to her sister's house in New Jersey.  A co-worker apologises repeatedly and profusely for inappropriate behaviour while drunk at the office party.  Such things extend her stay at the office to the point where she walks out with one of the main security guards, Karl, as he closes off elevator access as they descend.  


2. She watches the last car, other than her own, depart the car park, carrying the Asian couple who rode the elevator with her and Karl.   Then her own car will not start.


3. There is (almost) no one in the structure except her and the security guard Thomas. Unfortunately for Angela, he has extensive plans for her.


4. The rest of the film is the dialectic between the executive and the security guard in this mostly empty and strongly bounded environment.  Who will come out better?


3. Conclusions


1. Boring, nonsensical, male-bashing, lukewarm non-thriller.


2. One line summary: Lukewarm thriller with more than a touch of gore.


3. Two stars of five


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 OK, though nothing special.


2. Sound: 6/10 OK, though nothing special.


3. Acting: 4/10 Not all that engaging.  If we had Anthony Perkins instead of Wes Bentley, this was have been an entirely different matter.  As much as I appreciated Rachel Nichols' visual appeal, her acting did not engage me.  She was the principal reason I lost interest in the SciFi series Continuum, even though its underlying structure was one I would normally enjoy.


4. Screenplay: 3/10 The plot has its complications, and it hangs together somewhat.  However, its execution did not generate much suspense or many thrilling moments.  Also, the successful parts are neither new nor memorable.  The ending was ridiculous beyond measure.