Review of The Purge: Anarchy (2014) by Kyle L — 07 Dec 2014

Smart, Grittier and more thrilling than its predecessor The Purge: Anarchy is an example of a sequel that can act as an improvement over the original in terms of its execution and style. The plot of this film is the same as the original in which this movie is about a group of survivors who are about to survive the night of the annual Purge.

A single mother and her daughter are surviving the night after their home was invaded by a group of thugs led by Big Daddy, A man is on his way to find the man who murdered his son on the annual Purge and two young couples must survive the annual Purge after their car suddenly breaks down.

The survivors soon team up and the only thing they must do is survive the night of the Annual Purge until the time's up. Now when I saw the first Purge it was a great film but it could have been better.

Although Anarchy seriously hit me in the head because this film is ten times better than the first film since the first film was considered by Horror buffs as one of the worst films of 2013 well this one isn't.

One of the things that made me say that The Purge: Anarchy acts as a huge improvement over its predecessor is because the film's execution is way better than in the first film and I love that this movie instead takes place in the city instead of a small suburban neighborhood from the first film and it seriously managed to forget the issues of the first film thanks to its fresh style and proper execution the movie really worked.

The other things I like about this film is that the movie plays in two parts. If the first film is a Horror film and a Home Invasion Thriller. This sequel is not really a Horror film at all its more of a Survival film on one end the other an Action Thriller and the movie is focused more on action and less suspense than what the first one did.

Also the pacing is even better than in the first film and I love the character development and build up of the film from start to finish. One of the other highlights of this film is that the movie also has lots of amazing characters.

The lead characters are likable, believable and you care for each of them in the film while the bad guys are psychopaths and complete jerk offs. The bad guys are seriously insane and extremely psychotic.

You got the turret man Big Daddy, The motorcycle gangs who act as complete psychopaths while the rich people are jerk offs. But one of the film's true highlights is the film's action scenes and Holy Crap! It seriously blew me away because this is a real Purge, the film has loads of action scenes that are tense and thrilling (Rich vs Poor, Scenes with Big Daddy and his gang, the crazy trap sequence, scenes with the violent gangs and the insane subway hunt with the wackos holding flamethrowers along with the rebellion scene) and every sequence makes you think that you're watching a Survival film which is so outstanding that I hope the next Purge film will do the same again only better.

While Nathan Whitehead's soundtrack is even better than in the first film and the settings are amazing. Now the acting is superb in this film the acting is seriously a huge improvement over its predecessor's acting.

I would say out of all the casts Frank Grillo is the best one out of all the casts and he delivered an amazing performance as the lead Leo Barnes and its nice to see Edwin Hodge the homeless guy from the first film reprise his role only this time instead of a homeless person he is now a rebel after the events he experienced in the first film.

Director James DeMonaco did an amazing job with his work on this film and he managed to improve his directing skills when he made this film and he also managed to fix all the issues that were active in the original and created an intense Action romp with more thrills and less suspense and hopefully he can do the same with the next Purge film next year.

Overall The Purge: Anarchy is a huge improvement over its solid predecessor that will keep you entertained from start to finish. Keep in mind this is barely a Horror film more of a Survival film or an Action Thriller that will keep you glued and intrigued at the edge of your seat.