I had very low expectations for The Purge: Anarchy, but since I was a fan of the first one and was able to see Anarchy last Tuesday for $5, I decided to give it a shot. Due to the relative quickness of Anarchy's release, I envisioned a shoddy, slapped together flick attempting to ride on the tails of what little attention was garnered by the first movie.
I was pleasantly surprised by the storyline...first by the fact that it had any...and then by how well it was actually written. It followed three different groups of people and, once they were established separately, did a good job of bringing them together quickly so that you could follow them all via one storyline.
I'm assuming this isn't the kind of movie anyone I know will likely watch, so this review is going to be peppered with frequent SPOILERS. Just fyi.
Set in 2023, the national unemployment rate is only 5% and crime is at an all time low...every night of the year except for 12 hours on March 21st. That is the night of the annual purge. Once a year people are allowed to "purge" their aggression, hate, vengeance, prejudice, etc with no consequences or ramifications (from the law). On this night people choose to either participate in the death and violence or they barricade themselves in somewhere safe, hoping to survive the night.
The movie begins following a couple - Shane (Zach Gilford) and Liz (Kiele Sanchez) - on their way home with about 2 hours to spare before the purge begins, arguing about whether or not to tell Shane's sister that they're planning to separate. When they make a quick stop at a gas station, they are confronted by a group of massively creepy masked men on motorcycles with a white van. Shane and Liz leave quickly but shortly thereafter their car dies, evidently from being sabotaged. They flee into the city, hoping to find somewhere safe to hide.Leaving her waitressing job around the same time, Eva (Carmen Ejogo) heads home from work to join her daughter, Cali (Zoe Soul) and father, Papa Rico (John Beasley*) for what she hopes is another uneventful purge. Unfortunately it was not to be. Papa Rico tells the girls that he is going to sleep though "this terrible night," when in reality he sneaks out and is chauffeured to the home of a rich, sadistic family who paid him $100,000 to be their voluntary purge, so that they can purge in the safety of their own palatial home. Eva and Cali are devastated when they find his note, cell phone and wallet in his room, knowing they are unable to save him. It goes from bad to worse when a drunken neighbor breaks in, intent on taking advantage of them because "it's his right to purge." But before he can fulfill his threat, heavily armed men burst in and kill him. They then drag Eva and Cali out front of the building to a large, Mac truck to be the personal purge of Big Daddy (Jack Conley), the boss of the men rampaging through the apartment building, slaughtering all its inhabitants.
Enter (military) Sergeant Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo). He plans to take advantage of the purge in order to avenge the death of his son. On his way he comes across Eva and Cali being dragged out to the truck and after telling himself "just keep driving, just keep driving" he finally pulls over and intervenes in time to save them, killing all the goons and wounding Big Daddy. While he's over rescuing the girls, Shane and Liz come upon his unlocked, heavily armored car and climb into the back seat. When Barnes finds them, he is about to kick them out when Big Daddy stands back up and prepares to gun them all down. All five people pile into the car and speed away, but not before the engine gets shot to pieces by the armor piercing rounds. Shortly thereafter they must abandon the car and proceed on foot. Barnes is about to split off to head towards his quarry's house when Eva tells him she has a friend who lives nearby who will give them shelter for the night...and owns a car he can use if he gets them there safely. Unbeknownst to Barnes, Eva is lying about the car.
As they flee the apartment - which incidentally is being surrounded by Big Daddy and more of his goons - they are captured by the creepy masked men who had been pursuing Shane and Liz from the start. They are hauled off to a giant warehouse, where the group is auctioned off to several upper class purgers and then thrown into an arena for them to hunt. Barnes is able to attack and kill most of them before reinforcements are sent in, taking out Shane before surrounding the rest of the group. Just before they are finally gunned down, an anti-purge resistance group lead by Carmelo Johns (Michael K. Williams) appears, rescuing them just in time. Liz chooses to stay with them to purge the rich bastards who killed her husband, while Barnes, Eva and Cali escape the mayhem.
The purge is nearly over as Barnes drives up to the house of Warren Grass (Brandon Keener), the man who killed his son. Grass had been driving with three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system and had hit Barnes' son, eventually getting off on a technicality. Eva and Cali try to talk Barnes out of purging, but Barnes heads into the house (he had disabled the back door's security system the week before). He attacks the sleeping Grass in his bedroom, eventually exiting the house appearing to have gotten his revenge. Once he is out front, he is shot by Big Daddy, who had tracked Barnes by his license plate on the abandoned muscle car and had guessed where he would end up by the end of the night. Before finishing him off, Big Daddy informs Barnes that the New Founding Fathers - the officials who had instituted the purge - had decided not enough of the poor and lower class were being killed off during the purge and so had begun sending out death squads to target particular areas and neighborhoods...which is why Eva's apartment building was attacked. He also informs Barnes of an unwritten purge rule - do not save people. As Big Daddy is about to shoot Barnes, Grass (who Barnes spared) steps out of the house and shoots him in the head, saving Barnes. Just as Big Daddy's goons rush up, the sirens go off, ending the purge. Grass helps Eva and Cali rush Barnes to the hospital, as emergency vehicles peal out to clean up the results of the 6th annual purge.
An expansion of the social commentary begun in the first Purge movie, the sequel looks at the affects the purge has had on society. There's an unfortunate message of "rich people and the government are the devil," but some of the poor weren't so hot either - take Eva's drunken, gun wielding neighbor. When it became apparent that the group was being auctioned off for rich people to hunt, I first thought it was another lame way to add to the "poor people are worthless, we shoot them for sport" message. But then I thought about it...it's a money making scheme. People are always trying to figure out how to capitalize on life/situations, so it's reasonable to think that someone came up with this kind of idea...capturing and selling people to those who could afford it. And I mean reasonable as in conceivable...not to in anyway legitimize the idea.
The fact that people were finally rising up against the purge was good...clearly sanctioned pillaging, rape and murder should not be allowed. But it was unfortunate that the leader, Carmelo Johns (Michael K. Williams), took the tone of "rich people are evil" and those in charge are just trying to keep the poor and minorities down. In his own way, even though he was fighting for a good cause (to end the purge), he was also taking advantage of it to demonstrate his anger and aggression towards "his oppressors." I also didn't like that Liz decided to stay with him once her husband was killed. I completely understand it...I would want to make the heartless sociopath bastards pay for killing my husband too, but it's a bit hypocritical in the context of the movie because it's the very thing Carmelo's group is there fighting. I was very glad with the director's choice to have Barnes take the high road and not kill the man who killed his son. It was a tough, tough choice...but he rose above the base instincts the purge was catering to in making such actions "legal."
I like concept movies like this for the same reason I like The Hunger Games. While I don't see society actually going down these paths, I think conceptually it's a possibility. From what I know of humanity, I could see people being convinced that this idea could work - blow of steam once a year so that you and yours are safe the rest of the year. Look at history...actual history. There are so many grand scale atrocities that have happened...Hitler/Nazis and the slaughter of the Jews...Stalin and Communist Russia. The genocide going on right now in Iraq against the Yazidis by the terrorist group ISIS (ISIL). We...humans...are capable of horrible things. But then people like Barnes and Cali...or Katniss in The Hunger Games...step up to make a different, to show us there's hope.
So if you like dark, thriller social commentaries, I would recommend watching The Purge and/or The Purge: Anarchy. They are stand alone movies - you don't need one to see the other.
Enjoy and happy Tuesday!
~Katie
Fun Facts:
- The Purge grossed over $89 million, far surpassing its $3 million budget.
- The Purge: Anarchy grossed over $95 million and had a $9 million budget.
- Zach Gilford and Kiele Sanchez, who played Shane and Liz, are a married couple in real life.
- The movie mentioned 2023 as the sixth annual purge in the USA. This establishes 2018 as the first purge.
- Edwin Hodge is the only actor who reprises his role from the first movie...in The Purge, he plays "The Bloody Stranger." In Anarchy, he plays one of the anti-purge resistance members.
*I've met John Beasley! :)
http://journalstar.com/news/local/director-alexander-payne-actor-john-beasley-testify-on-film-incentive/article_faf6d570-4129-5ba1-a010-a5b4567b4644.html
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