Review of The Purge: Anarchy (2014) by Diego T — 21 Dec 2014

Despite the fact that I never saw the original Purge, I saw The Purge: Anarchy, under the assumption that I needed no prior knowledge of the franchise to see the second installment, as it would undoubtedly be a cash-grab sequel that featured none of the original cast and re-explained the premise for new audience members who were dragged to see it (like myself). Well, unsurprisingly, I pretty much nailed that. The Purge: Anarchy is a dangerous kind of film, in that it's not just stupid, but it also has the gall to think it's smart. It's part of a new breed of horror/thrillers that attempt to offer up some kind of social commentary, but any thought-provoking aspects they may have had end up playing second fiddle to cheap thrills and lazy plotting.

The Purge is set in the not-too-distant-future, when the American government has set aside twelve hours of the year for people to commit practically any crimes they want. This practice was started to get rid of crime during the rest of the year... because as we all know, the best way to combat crime is anarchy. While the first film centered around a group of hoodlums assaulting Ethan Hawke in his affluent upper-middle-class home, this sequel takes place in the streets while the Purge is in effect, and follows a tight group of characters composed of Walking Dead rejects as they try to make it through the night. Together, they are an inseparable team: Tough guy, tough girl, whiny guy, quiet girl, and boring girl.

Truthfully though, it's wrong to blame the actors for this film. Frank Grillo actually does an excellent job (even if his character is a patchwork of every action movie cliche in the book), and the rest of the cast does what they can with what they're given. However, what they're given isn't much. The script of this film reads like the ramblings of a conspiracy theorist. One minute, the characters are interacting semi-normally, but with just a few lines of dialogue, they can instantly spiral into forced, politically charged diatribes that make no sense in the context of the film. The Purge is clearly very angry about something in American politics, and it's very loud about its anger, but it seems to have absolutely no idea what it's talking about. The writers of this film clearly thought that any random, hyper-nationalistic dystopian future would pass for social commentary, but they thought wrong. This movie is as empty-headed as it gets.

Yet even when The Purge isn't pushing its weird, confused agenda, it makes no sense. In scene after scene, characters make decisions that go completely against both their established personalities and the way that a normal human would act in such a situation. There is, for instance, a scene where the characters hide out at the apartment of one of their friends, where the residents are drinking wine and having a laugh, all while people are being massacred in the streets. Suddenly, one of these characters whips out a gun and starts shooting people. What is the reason for this sudden outbreak of violence? "I read your emails! I know what you've been doing!" This character fascinates me-- she must have been mulling over this decision all night while wining and dining, and at some point during the socializing thought to herself "Yep, you know what, I think I'll kill some people.".

Overall, the best I can say for The Purge: Anarchy is that it's not entirely unwatchable. Granted, that's setting the bar very low, but there are certainly a few moments in this film that legitimately put the audience on edge, or bring in some kind of original ideas. But as soon as the film starts getting interesting, either the bad dialogue or the inane plotting shows up to neuter any promise it might have shown. It's not 'controversial' to make a film that commentates on the wealth gap in America. Making a film in which rich people are evil and are portrayed as violent, soulless plutocrats who would murder the poor at a moment's notice is not daring in any way. It panders to a lower common denominator of thinking, and relies purely on stereotypes in order to get its message across.

Final Score for The Purge: Anarchy: 2/10 stars. The film isn't jaw-droppingly bad, but it comes close, and if you don't have any interest in the political or social commentary (which there isn't much of anyway), there's no point in seeing it. After all, if you take away those aspects of it, what you're left with is a film that basically gives itself an excuse to show graphic, bloody decapitations of ordinary civilians in an urban setting. And that's really the core reason for The Purge's social commentary-- it's not there to make us think. It's simply there to give some kind of justification for being entertained by boring characters getting their heads blown off. Because if it was just mindless entertainment, then taking any pleasure in watching it would be considered sick. But since it's social commentary, hey! Anything goes!