The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

How would you survive a night when all crime… even murder, was legal? In July 2014, a small group of people tried running… let’s hope their plan worked.

Directing this 103 minute action/horror/thriller is James DeMonaco.

Trying to survive the purge is: Frank Grillo as Sergeant, Carmen Ejogo as Eva Sanchez, Zoe Soul as Cali, Zach Gilford as Shane, Kiele Sanchez as Liz, Michael K. Williams as Carmelo Johns, Edwin Hodge as Dwayne/The Stranger and Jack Conley as Big Daddy.

Once again, it’s time for the purge, and this time a man named Sergeant is looking to free the beast on a man that wronged him. Unfortunately, while Sergeant is out looking for his target, he comes across a few people that found themselves stuck out on the streets, running for their lives. Now Sergeant has to decide which is more important, saving a few lives… or taking one.

First off, this is the sequel to the The Purge (2013), and I’m probably in the 1% of people that actually liked the first one. Mainly because I liked the way they went with the subject matter. You have 12 hours in which crime is legal. One night to “purge the beast”. Basically, whoever wronged you… make them pay during the purge, or any other poor bastard that happens across your path. So really it’s a flick waiting to show us tons of blood and violence.

Now the reason I liked the first one was because they didn’t go the easy way and jump to the streets so we could see all the violence that was obviously happening. Instead, they confined the story into a house with a family that didn’t want to participate. Yeah it was still filled with blood and violence, but it had a good story behind it all showing a side of humanity. Unfortunately, the masses didn’t like the way the first one went. A lot of people were disappointed that they didn’t see what was going on in the streets. So when I heard they were doing a sequel I already knew which way it was going to go. Yep, the easy way, so now we get thrown out into the streets to see… the Anarchy.

The story that writer/directer James DeMonaco came up with was good, but it reminded me of an old movie called The Warriors (1979) and a touch of Hostel (2005) with the way everything played through. Not that that’s a bad thing, because I really liked both of those movies. It’s just too bad Anarchy couldn’t muster the same punch that either of the ones I mentioned pulled off. I will say I liked the conspiracy spin that was thrown into this one. It definitely brought a wider scope to the purge, and helped open the storyline for the next installment if they decide to do one.

Now the playthrough moves at a pretty good pace and with everything going on it held my attention. The cinematography work that Jacques Jouffrett pulled off really helped with all that. One thing that got me about watching everything go down was the lack of overall action. I mean, they had the whole city to play with in this one. I was a little disappointed with what all went on throughout the movie. It felt like everything was toned down a bit. It could have had a harder punch, it could have been a bit more brutal, which is what everyone wanted in this one. Yet it never did. Instead, it kind of fell into your typical action flick with shoot outs, and chases.

As for the cast, I think they did a good job and I liked seeing Grillo get a lead role because he has the skills to pull it off. Sadly however, the characters that DeMonaco came up with were nothing more than typical characters. One has a grudge, a couple that can’t get along etc. etc. So it’s pretty easy to see where everyone will end up before it’s over.