Director: James DeMonaco
Cast: Frank Grillo, Kiele Sanchez, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford
Certificate: 15
THE PURGE: ANARCHY is the follow up to the 2013 film THE PURGE which starred Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey. The franchise is set in the near-future in which the ruling American government, in an attempt to combat crime, has decreed that one night a year, for twelve hours, all crime is legal. In the first film Hawke and Headey played a married couple who had to save their family after their house got broken into during the annual Purge festivities. The first film was set mainly in the house whilst THE PURGE: ANARCHY opens up the world, focusing on a group of strangers who all find themselves trapped on the dangerous streets during the ‘holiday’.
At the head of the group is an enigmatic character, played by Frank Grillo, referred to only as Sergeant. His stance on events are a little harder to work out than for the other characters who are either all for it, or vehemently against it. The audience know from the get-go that he intends to commit some sort of crime, but where others are committing for the sake of chaos, might he have a more ‘honourable’ reason? The more important question though is can the other characters trust him to keep them alive or is he leading them all into a murderous trap? The decision made by DeMonaco to cut a lot of Grillo’s lines and keep his character at a distance was a clever one. Audiences love trying to work out whether a character is good or bad. The problem that THE PURGE: ANARCHY faces though is that Grillo is kept at such a distance, and the audience know so little, that for a good portion of the film you become completely detached emotionally.
The other members of the group, although chatty, are equally under-developed. We know very little about any of them. Liz and Shane are a married couple on the rocks who were on their way to visit family – but that is pretty much all we know. Similarly with Eva and Cali, we pretty much only know that they are poor. Well that, and that they are one of the most unbelievable screen mothers and daughters you will see – they look about five years apart age-wise and the story would have been more believable were they to have been sisters instead.
The first film focussed on the wealthy whereas the second delves into the life of the poor and desperate. It is within this change that the film starts to find it’s feet. There are people so destitute that they are selling themselves as willing victims to rich people. This culture is met with some RUNNING MAN-esque underground revolution. In many ways though this film feels like it is just setting up elements that will be explored more next time around.
THE PURGE was a claustrophobic little thriller with the main cast stalked by a sinister group of ‘Purgers’, which gave the film tension. THE PURGE: ANARCHY has action all over the place from the get go, the film easily earning its subtitle. The message of this outing is clearer and with news of a third film already announced it will be interesting to see where they take it.
[usr=3] THE PURGE: ANARCHY is out to buy on DVD and BLU RAY now.
