Lock up your doors and barricade the house, because James DeMonaco (The Purge) is bringing us our second annual crimefest with The Purge: Anarchy. (Note: I never saw the first movie and was still able to follow this one just fine in case you haven't seen it either.)
Oddly enough the story in this sequel to last years film takes place during the 6th annual purge in America. The purge is a 12 hour period that happens every year where all crime is legal and emergency services are not around to help you. Within the film, the news is claiming that the yearly purge is responsible for lower unemployment and poverty the rest of the year. Also, it seems that during the purge, everyone who goes out resorts to murder. There doesn't seem to be much looting or vandalism, which is convenient for businesses not losing money. I'm assuming we can all just get past how ridiculous this premise is. It's made blatantly clear in the previews, so if you're still interested in seeing it after that I can assume you have looked past that.
This film follows a sergeant (Frank Grillo, Captain America: The Winter Soldier) who goes out during the purge on a specific task, not just general mayhem like most others. Who he is after is left a mystery until the end, but you understand that it is some sort of revenge on someone because he is heading out on the one night when crime is legal and he's armed to the teeth. Meanwhile, a struggling waitress (Carmen Ejogo, Alex Cross) and her daughter (Zoe Soul, Prisoners) are trying to stay safe locked up in their apartment, but a group of almost military type men break in and force them to go on the run. They are caught and the sergeant sees their struggle on the way to his destination and decides to rescue them out of the goodness of his heart. As he does this, another couple, Shane (Zach Gilford, The Last Stand) and Liz (Kiele Sanchez, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium), hide in the back seat of his car. They were trying to get to Liz's sisters house for safety before the purge, but their car broke down and they were trying to escape a group of masked individuals that were chasing them down. Once this unlikely group gets together, the fun begins as they try to survive the night and evade all the people that had been trying to get them to do God knows what.
As it turns out, this is another film about the 1%ers versus the 99%ers. There is an anti-purge group that is trying to stop the purge from happening because they believe that the rich and powerful are just using it as a form of population control. Of course the poor are the ones who are going to wipe each other out because they don't have the money to protect themselves. Besides greedy, this film also depicts the rich as sadistic people who would watch murder as sport if given the chance to do it legally. I would say if you want to see a better violent film about class warfare, then check out Snowpiercer. That's not to say this film doesn't have a few merits of it's own though.
I thought that once you get over the whole silly story setup in the beginning of the film, it turns into a pretty decent little thriller. The five heroes of the story are trying to get across the city in the middle of the night with different kinds of people out to get them. This keeps the tension up because you get focused on their efforts to get away from one group just to have them round a corner and all of a sudden you go, oh yeah, there's that other group. It's mostly a thriller, but there are a few little scenes thrown in there that will make you jump as well.
The acting is competent by most. They make the most out of the material they are given. The script gives them the problem of just having hokey dialogue here and there throughout the film. The exception to this rule would be the lead, however. Frank Grillo is just fun to watch and rises above any problems there might be with the script. He plays a torn man very well. He is a good man who is out to do something bad and you can see how it is eating away at him through the film. Grillo has been in several films that I have seen, but I haven't paid much attention to him. After this and Winter Soldier though, he is definitely on my radar to watch for what he does next.
So, the film's premise has it's problems. I don't think it's as clever as it pretends to be, but it is still a different and interesting idea. It will be interesting where they take this idea in the inevitable next film. Maybe they'll show the clean-up the day after the purge. I'd hate to be the one who has to deal with all those dead bodies. This one itself had a great lead performance and some good tension through the second half of the film. Worth a rental when it comes around. And in case you didn't get from this review or the trailer, it is a bit of a violent movie. Not really recommended for children 3 and under.....apparently someone at my screening didn't get that memo.
Rating: ******---- (6 out of 10)
Memorable Quote:
Half the cast at one time or another: Stay safe.
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