Organized Chaos

The Purge: Anarchy

Once in a very blue moon there is a sequel better than its predecessor. Sorry Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II do not count; they are a part of a trilogy. Arguments can be made that Terminator 2 or Aliens were better than the originals (not me I prefer Ridley Scott over James Cameron any day). The rare status of ‘better than the original’ is what Universal Studios is hoping for The Purge: Anarchy, sequel to 2013’s The Purge.

The year is 2023 and another annual Purge is upon Americans. A young couple, Shane (Zach Gilford Devils Due) and Liz (Kiele Sanchez TV’s The Glades), are headed to Shane’s sisters house to safely wait out the 12 hour event. A young mother, Eva (Carmen Ejogo Alex Cross), and her daughter Cali (Zoe Soul Prisoners) don’t want any part of the holiday either so they decide to lock themselves in their home. Sargent Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo Captain America: The Winter Soldier), on the other hand, has plans to take advantage of the suspended laws. None of these ideas come to fruition when circumstances for each group drastically change and their fates become intertwined. Now to survive the night, these five strangers must rely on each other to see another day.

The answer to the question posed (sort of) in the beginning of this review is yes this film was better than the original…but not by much. Anarchy firmly sets its identity as action/thriller and doesn’t deviate from that, which is a good thing because the movie is confidant with itself. Unlike the first, Anarchy doesn’t try to be something it’s not. The action scenes in the movie were actually pretty good as well. The scenes were well filmed and kept me on the edge. There were enough of them to keep the story flowing and not too many to break away from the plot.

I also like the acting; not overly cheesy and well done for an action film. Frank Grillo did stand out as Leo Barnes, the only guy in this group trained to take care of himself. Barnes isn’t a happy guy and is out for noble reasons and Grillo plays it well by giving the audience enough to see that somewhere deep down he is a decent guy. I am thinking that if Grillo is given a few more roles like this and a little more exposure, He could turn out to be a good action star.

Round 2 for James DeMonaco (The Purge) as writer and director. The original Purge may not have been a critical success; it was a financial success however. Enough of a success to persuade Universal to green light a sequel. DeMonaco takes advantage of Universal’s approval and sets the sequel on a much grander scale. Not set in a house anymore, Anarchy is ‘unleashed’ on the streets of Downtown Los Angeles. I did like how DeMonaco did this because we get to see more of what the ‘holiday’ means to people. I also liked how DeMonaco is still keeping the story simple and to the point. The film doesn’t try to add any plot points that don’t need to be there and the small ones they do add circle around and make sense later.

Pushing my personal feelings aside about the ideologies of these two films, I still found little problems with the film. Still would like some backstory on why we, The American people, need such a ‘holiday’. Also, this is just a general question, if this is supposed to be a free-for-all, why are there a lot of organized groups running amuck during the Purge? Wasn’t very many loners Purging. But a lot of groups ganging up on the suckers out on the street during the night. Survival by numbers I guess.

If you happen to enjoy The Purge, Anarchy is for you. The film is a nice change of pace from the original with a lot more action and a better plot.

The Verdict: Check Out On Blu-Ray