Is there a lot to be said about a movie wherein a woman is trapped in a parking garage on Christmas Eve? More precisely, is there enough to be said to fill almost two hours of film? Well, yeah. Not all of it is awesome though. Poor Angela. Seems she got stuck with three tons of paperwork for Christmas Eve while every one else gets to party and leave early. We're introduced to a girl who tells Angela she'll stay late to get the work done... Psssh. No matter, she leaves and we are never to see her again. Then we're introduced to Mr. Harper, Angela's boss who likes to grope on breasts when he's drunk. Before ya know it, Angela is down on her parking level (P2!!!!) and swearing to her friends she'll make the Christmas Party. Not so fast, Angela... We have a lot of movie left.
We're introduced finally to Thomas, a seemingly well-intentioned security guard who offers to help Angela. Oh, I forgot... Her car wouldn't start. That doesn't work so well so he lets her into the lobby where she calls a cab. Oh, wouldn't you know it? The front doors are locked and the night watchman is missing. I wonder where he could be....? He most certainly wouldn't be killed by our kindly Thomas and ditched on top of an elevator, could he? The cab arrives but gets impatient, drives off and that's sort of what happens with Thomas too. He drugs Angela, dresses her up and makes a Christmas meal (consisting of turkey and mashed potatoes) for the two of them. Angela manages to get free, lots of violence happens, yadda yadda yadda... Oh, I almost forgot, Thomas has a rottweiler named Rocky.
I can tell you right off the bat whether you're going to like this, hate this or find it middle of the line. It all depends on what kind of movies you like. If you've seen The Hills Have Eyes remake (directed by Alexandre Aja) and watched this soon after (produced by Alexandre Aja), you may get a kick out of the violent scenes. If you're a big fan of Smallville and Gossip Girl, you'll probably think Thomas is mad hot even if he's got a screw loose. If you watch a lot of grindhouse/exploitation/horror movies (like me), you'll feel a little empty inside. That's not to say I didn't like it... It was decent. I just didn't feel the WOW! factor that the director was going for. We have a couple of cool deaths including Angela's pervert boss who gets squashed like a bug (literally) between a car and a wall. The aforementioned nightwatchman shows up dead in the elevator. Angela kills Thomas' dog in a very gruesome scene that might have some animal lovers twitching. The violence, though, can't save this movie.
Wes Bentley does a good job as Thomas, a guy who no matter how violent or insane he gets, never forgets his manners. He promises never to hurt Angela, even when she jabs a knife in his eye and gets ready to douse him in flames. Angela is played by Rachel Nichols and she did a decent enough job for me. She felt like another female in another "female-in-peril" role to me and didn't stand out much but she was sufficient.
For movie reviews, I'm doing a "BANGS FOR YOUR BUCKS" scale. It's from 1 to 5.
P2 gets 2 BANGS FOR YOUR BUCKS for failing to completely entertain but leave me somewhat satisfied on a sleepy Saturday evening.
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