Written by: James DeMonaco
Starring: Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez, Michael K. Williams
Rating: [3.5/5]
When seeing potential squandered before, it feels great to see storytellers get it just right the second go-around. Brings credence to the idea that individuals can learn from their mistakes and make something better when given another opportunity, which directly occurs with The Purge: Anarchy. Taking the all-out 12-hour period of mayhem out into the streets provides exactly what should be shown for a concept this intriguing to follow.
Grieving for the loss of his son, which happened just last year, LAPD Police Sergeant Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) seeks the opportunity in the next purge to get his revenge on the man who killed him via manslaughter. While on this journey he encounters some individuals who have found themselves in compromised positions out in the streets as the annual purge begins.
Rectifying the disappointments of the previous film and upping the ante describes exactly what the doctor ordered in this sequel presenting everything this concept could deliver at its height. It takes all of the societal critiques in this process and envelops them in what should primarily be considered an action film with what transpires. Moving away from a self-contained home invasion film in The Purge this feature goes all out in its bombast showing the actual wreckage happening each year and not in some quiet rich suburb. To think this film and the preceding one had the same budget boggles my mind when looking at the difference in production but I suppose this feature did not employ Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey.
Even with much more action within this feature, it still manages to elicit more fear than the preceding film because we find these innocent people out in the open with nowhere to go in a densely populated area of Los Angeles. Death completely surrounds them at every turn, which makes their interactions with Barnes incredibly vital to their survival. This, however, does not represent the only thought as this film expands the ideas of this concept as it completely ratchets up the social commentary to the degree where people begin to get sold off as a sacrifice for rich purgers not looking to get their hands dirty. Definitely, a different source of life insurance, which probably became much more difficult to attain with a yearly purge occurring. It adds extra wrinkles to the story making the thought process behind this concept even more thorough and enriching as a result.
By far the biggest revelation this feature makes comes from the involvement of the government to go out during the purge and start wrangling out people because of a lack of killing occurring among the lower class individuals. As with any totalitarian government, what they present on the outside does not indicate what they do in reality. It becomes clear as day that when they speak on the good the purge does for society in the lack of crimes, it just gives them the opportunity to literally kill off members of the lower classes as they supposedly represent the biggest burden to this government. Fascinating to think about and this feature has absolutely no qualms in depicting who they represent in our current reality, with Big Daddy (Jack Conley) wearing a big ol’ American flag on his hat as he mows down innocent people.
The subtitle of the feature very much matches what transpires in this feature and with each new street these characters travel it allows for this world to descend into even more chaos. It almost takes me back to something like Escape from New York where unchecked madness endlessly spreads through the streets. What we lack in fully formed characters to follow, the feature makes it up with a barrage of purgers for Barnes and his newly formed group to mow down to get out of their way. This scratches all of the itches in delivering the catharsis necessary after enduring all of these individuals postulating as purgers out there.
Blending social commentary with thrilling action sequences, The Purge: Anarchy gives everything we could want from this premise. It fully realizes the class warfare involved with the reality of why this annual tradition exists while allowing Los Angeles to descend into the madness many individuals who do not live there swear it looks like on a daily basis. Something so fun to watch as we see Frank Grillo do what he does best in mowing down bad guys but this time with the purpose of protecting individuals not asking to take part in all of this and having a bit of growth of his own in the process.
Films with Josh 