I love the idea of The Purge. I think it’s a great concept for an action/horror/thriller and one that has so much potential for awesomeness. For some, the original film was a bit underwhelming because of how restrictive it was, people wanted to see how everything went down outside rather than experiencing a standard home invasion thriller. I personally thought it was somewhat effective with a couple of much appreciated twists, but the lack of actual purging on the outside did leave me feeling disappointed as well. The folks over at Blumhouse Productions have heard the fans loud and clear and, a little over a year later, we’re being served up a sequel titled The Purge: Anarchy, a film that throws down the barriers and gives our characters a chance to roam while the annual purge takes place.
The Purge: Anarchy follows three separate groups who eventually join together to survive the 12 hour purge. We are introduced to Eva (Carmen Ejogo) and her daughter Cali (Zoe Soul), the two are struggling financially and live in a poor apartment complex with their sick father/grandfather. The next couple consists of Shane (Zach Gilford) and Liz (Kiele Sanchez), the two are on their way to tell Shane’s sister’s house and to tell her that they are separating after their relationship has become a broken mess. When a group of purgers tamper with their vehicle, they must try to find safety on foot. Lastly, we are introduced to Sergeant (Frank Grillo), a man who plans on participating in this year’s purge after the man who killed his son was released on a prosecutor error. When Eva and Cali’s apartment is stormed by armed men, Sergeant sees them putting op a fight and decides to pull his armored car over, takes out his automatic weapons and saves them. During the fighting, Shane and Liz jump into the car to hide from their hunters and now Sergeant is left to help and protect an entire group, all while trying to reach the home of the man he wants to kill.
The Purge: Anarchy is both written and directed by the original’s helmer/screenwriter, James DeMonaco, and while The Purge was made on a tiny $3 million budget, The Purge: Anarchy has the benefit of a larger budget thanks to the huge success of the first film, and it shows. Unlike the first film which was essentially restricted to one house, The Purge: Anarchy takes us all over downtown LA as a group of people try to survive the night while men with mounted machine guns in high-tech 16-wheelers and a group of masked dirt bikers try to capture and kill them. There’s also a side-plot of an anarchist movement about anti-purge people purging the rich folks who prey on the poor, giving them a taste of their own medicine, but in the overall scheme of the movie it’s pretty lame unless they make a third movie which involves all-out war between the classes. It also makes Michael K. Williams (aka Omar from The Wire) who is the leader of the revolt, look like a tool thanks to some dumb dialogue.
I love movies like The Purge, it’s a guilty pleasure whether it’s good or bad. While I may have derived some enjoyment from this movie thanks to decent kills and good pacing, I know in reality this movie really wasn’t that good. In fact, when it finished I turned to my cousin and said “well that was just silly.” The main reason is that the two couples were such a pain in the ass. Cali just kept pestering Sergeant about why he was purging, trying to get to know him as an attempt to prevent him from getting revenge. Eva was a nervous wreck the entire film (Carmen Ejogo did a great job at portraying this) and just caused problem after problem. Why is it so hard for people to listen to the few rules the savior has, you’re alive because of him now stop nagging him. The other couple, well, Shane wanted to question the guy and why they should trust him and, well, for someone that’s being protected by someone that knows what they’re doing is just a complete idiot, especially when Shane is doing nothing to contribute.
As for the good parts, the film’s saviors were Frank Grillo’s badass character and the action scenes, which usually involved Grillo kicking ass. There were some solid kills and chase scenes in the film and Grillo commanded your attention, especially during a night vision scene that involved a “most dangerous game”-style death hunt. What was great about Grillo’s character is he just kept everyone in check, even when they tried to bring him down. Eventually he does crack a bit but it’s a Hollywood film so you kind of expect it.
Overall, The Purge: Anarchy is likely the official start of another horror franchise, one that I will continue to watch religiously year after year the same way I do the Paranormal Activity series. I’m hoping that they can develop a stronger story that doesn’t feel as scattered as Anarchy, remove the annoying characters/bad dialogue and just make an awesomely intense thriller, but if this sequel is any indication of things to come then it’ll just be a silly franchise that constantly disappointments people who enjoy well-rounded thrillers. The Purge: Anarchy is a film that listens to the fans on one level, but in doing so it makes sacrifices elsewhere that degrade what could have been a far more interesting thriller.
Rating: While it delivers on what fans want from an action perspective, the delivery of everything else falls flat and ultimately disappoints (4/10)
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