The Purge Anarchy (2014)

"See What All The Good The Purge Does"








MY THOUGHTS

The Purge Anarchy is the sequel to the sleeper hit of last year's The Purge that starred Ethan Hawke (Training Day, Daybreakers) and Lena Headley(Game Of Thrones) which takes place in the not to distant future where once a year for one night all crime is legal.

The Purge Anarchy differs from the first movie not only with characters but also with setting as with instead of being solely in a house that becomes over run, the main characters who for all varies reasons find themselves outside after The Purge has began and they all have to survive the night.

One thing that I liked about The Purge Anarchy was the fact that we were going to see more of what goes on in the streets this time around instead of the somewhat clichéd invasion scenario that the first movie gave us ( If you want to see more about my thoughts on that you can read my review of the first film).

The Purge Anarchy begins a mere 2 hours before the Purge night is taking place as we are first introduced to a couple Shane (Zach Gilford) and Liz (Kiele Sanchez) who get stranded outside because they become targets of a purge gang. at the same time a waitress Eva (Carmen Ejogo) makes it home just before The purge begins and locks down for the night with her daughter Cali (Zoe Soul) and her father Papa Rico (John Beasley) and while somewhere else in the city a man only known as Sergrant (Frank Grillo) who is gearing up to go out and purge. 


STORY

I liked the story more in the sequel then in the first movie, where this time around the social commentary was amped up a bit more and really hits home in regards to why The Purge was created and who it was intended to be beneficial too and who it was intended to truly get rid of, I'm sure if another movie is made they will continue that story even further and hopefully see the system coming down at some point.

Also the way the main characters come together here makes sense unlike in other movies that have similar setups from the word go you know that those characters will link up but here the three stories lines didn't really have to but things felt more by chance in that sense.


ACTING

For the most part the acting in this movie was better then in the first movie, but once again there had to be a few characters that really pissed me off as a viewer namely Cali, Shane and Liz who threw out the movie if they got killed you probably wouldn't feel bad that they were dead (when/If you see the movie you'll understand my view point on that.

Frank Grillo as Sergeant is the stand out here as he has a real purpose threw out the movie and is the only character you find yourself truly rooting for (the crowd I saw the movie with sure did a few times) there isn't to much backstory giving about him but what you do find out about him is why I can see why audiences will like him plus he's a badass who people would want on their side in a crisis situation such as The Purge.

As a big fan of The Wire I'm always pleased when I see any cast member from that show in anything else and when I found out Omar Little himself (Michael K. Williams) was in this movie I really wanted to see it more. the character he plays is very interesting, I won't give to much away but his character is very important and in one scene he seems to channel his former shotgun wielding ghetto robin hood( you'll know the scene when it comes) also there is one character who shows up from the original in this one as well to help bridge the two films together.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Purge Anarchy takes everything that was good about the first movie and expands it further and shows what takes place on the streets during the crazy purge night and shows that things people will do to each other and any cost and for varies reason, like I said before the social commentary is very important in these movie especially in this installment and hopefully we get I say atleast two more of these films  before they stop.

If you were a fan of the first movie you should be pleased with this movie and even if you haven't seen the first movie you can actually skip it and go right into this movie and not be loss with the concept of The Purge.




There is a lot of action which never makes the movie feel slow or boring and everything moves at a good pace which is always good with any movie. so go check out The Purge Anarchy on the big screen.


MY RATING

8/10


CAST

Frank Grillo- Sergeant
Carmen Ejogo- Eva Sanchez
Zoe Soul- Cali
Kiele Sanchez- Liz
Zach Gilford- Shane
Michael K. Williams- Carmelo
Jack Conley- Big Daddy
Justina Machado- Tanya
John Beasley- Papa Rico
Noel. G. Diego