2:22 – What If Groundhog Day Was A Thriller?

Teresa Palmer and Michael Huisman in 2:22, a Magnet release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.

If Groundhog Day had been made as a thriller, it’s possible that 2:22 could have been that film.

Directed by Paul Currie from a screenplay written by Todd Stein and Nathan Parker, 2:22 stars Michael Huisman, Teresa Palmer, and Sam Reid.

Dylan Branson (Michael Huisman) is an air traffic controller at JFK airport.  While guiding plans to and from the ground, a flash of light occurs at 2:22 PM and when he comes to moments later, two planes are about to crash if he doesn’t do anything about it.  Not able to explain what just happened, Dylan gets suspended and starts paying attention to everything around him–especially at Ground Central Station.

Following a ballet show, Dylan meets Sarah Barton and the two start a relationship–not helped by the fact that Sarah works in an art gallery with her ex-boyfriend Jonas (Sam Reid).

The same thing happens every day for Dylan Branson (Huisman) while he’s standing in the main concourse of Grand Central Terminal.  There’s a businessman reading a newspaper at the ticket counter, a couple hugging and kissing, six school children, and a pregnant woman standing under the clock.  It may not be the exact same people but the pattern stays the same.

It’s the same thing for Dylan earlier in the day with a plane flying overhead, glass shattering, and a car screeching.  For Dylan, these random events turn out to be not so random.  It’s up to him to convince his girlfriend, Sarah (Palmer), that there’s a pattern going on and it involves the two of them.  Sarah doesn’t believe him until Jonas tells her on the final day (in the film) that they have tickets for the Poughkeepsie Express, only he told her Millhurst when they were in the taxi.  The Millhurst train hadn’t been running for 30 years and this is when Sarah starts paying attention to the events that transpire around her.

Except for some location shooting in New York, the large majority was filmed on set in Australia–including an amazing recreation of Grand Central Terminal.

“From the moment I first read the script, I realized that 2:22 was one of those rare commercial projects that appealed on many levels,” Currie says of the film.  “I pitched Todd my take on how I saw the film from a director’s perspective, which in a nutshell, was to make an intelligent high-concept romantic thriller; a film that is highly cinematic, visceral and mysterious, offering viewers a compelling and thrilling ride from the first frame to the last.”

Magnet Releasing will open 2:22 in select theaters (Columbus, Kansas City, and Greensboro), on demand, Amazon Video, and iTunes on Friday, June 30, 2017.

 

Danielle Solzman

Danielle Solzman is native of Louisville, KY, and holds a BA in Public Relations from Northern Kentucky University and a MA in Media Communications from Webster University. She roots for her beloved Kentucky Wildcats, St. Louis Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, and Boston Celtics. Living less than a mile away from Wrigley Field in Chicago, she is an active reader (sports/entertainment/history/biographies/select fiction) and involved with the Chicago improv scene. She also sees many movies and reviews them. She has previously written for Redbird Rants, Wildcat Blue Nation, and Hidden Remote/Flicksided. From April 2016 through May 2017, her film reviews can be found on Creators.

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