P2
Metascore
37 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 15
  3. Negative: 5 out of 15
view
per page
  1. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Chuck Wilson
    70
    If it weren't for two excessively violent deaths, P2 could be termed a refreshingly old-fashioned thriller, one dependent on hairbreadth escapes and the pluck of its heroine.
  2. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Mike Mayo
    70
    If in the end P2 contains few surprises, it's still a nice piece of polished escapism.
  3. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    63
    P2 doesn't crash and burn, but its finale is more generic than what the effective first hour leads us to hope for.
  4. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    60
    Swift and stealthy P2 is a canny exploitation of one of the urban woman’s greatest fears: the after-hours parking garage. Throw in a car that won’t start, a creepy security guard and a filmmaking team with perfect synchronicity, and the result is a minimalist nightmare.
  5. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    58
    The minor pleasures of P2 lie in the simple effectiveness of the sleekly unshowy direction and the clean, unadorned script, which pares away extraneous distractions like motivation and complicated back stories to get on with the mechanics of tension and the obligatory jumps and startles (which stand in for genuine scares).
  6. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    50
    In the sadism-for-thrills sweepstakes, P2 is no "Saw," but it will get young women to clutch their dates for a week or so in theaters before fading to DVD shelves.
  7. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Walter Addiego
    50
    Standard-issue slasher pic.
  8. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    No two ways about it: The screenplay is derivative. But the location adds a little novelty to the standard-issue running and screaming.
  9. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    40
    Ultimately, though, and despite an enormously creepy turn from Bentley (American Beauty), the story has nowhere else to go but into the standard (albeit judiciously-used) stalk-and-slash territory.
  10. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    40
    What "Psycho" did for the shower, P2 tries very hard to do for the parking garage, spending most of its time below ground, and below an adequate level of convincing dread.
  11. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Jessica Reaves
    25
    The lighting is appropriately dim, the music is reasonably clever, and they get in a few nice scares in the beginning. But as the movie wears on and Angela’s desperation grows, any glimmer of fun seeps away. And we’re left watching the same old grim game of cat and mouse.
  12. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    25
    This is one of those thrillers where the person on-screen is often the only person in the theater who can't guess what'll happen next. Lots of laughable moments provide camp value, though, and Bentley ("American Beauty") makes for a charismatic creep.
  13. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Jason McBride
    25
    A pointless thriller.
  14. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    16
    Has the feeling of something done many times before.
  15. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    0
    Amid the dumbness and disgust for paying customers, the movie does manage to cough up something I didn't expect: a performance so terrible you can't quite believe it's happening: Bentley's.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.4 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 23 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 14
  3. Negative: 5 out of 14
  1. Tss5078
    4
    Movies derived from naturally creepy places and situations should be the scariest movies of all-time. Unfortunately, most of the time they are way too predictable to even be entertaining and that was the case with P2. A woman gets trapped in her office parking garage, on a holiday weekend, and is being stalked. Sounds interesting, but it wasn't. This film has got to be one of the slowest moving "thrillers" I've ever seen. The acting was actually pretty good in this film, but everything that happens, you know it's coming sooner or later and there are no surprises what so ever. Like I said the acting was pretty good, so it's not a total piece of but it's slow, predictable, and just a really weak story. I usually love the "it could happen" type of films, but if P2 really did happen, no one would be surprised or really care all that much.… Full Review »
  2. CameronG.
    2
    Not terrible in the vein of The Hills Have Eyes 2, but utterly formulaic and totally unfrightening.
  3. BrandonE.
    7
    P2 actually wasn't as bad as people are giving it credit. It was very suspenseful and caused me to jump a few times. Although some parts were predictable, not all of it was. It could have been better with a more realistic dog attack and a better ending.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »