Review of The Purge: Anarchy (2014) by Jesse O — 21 Nov 2014

We can pretty much all agree that this is a vast improvement over the original film. It might not seem vast given the rating, but I believe it is. Problem with the first film is that with such an interesting and intriguing concept, yet it played out like a regular home invasion thriller.

The concept was, basically, used in order to get people to want to watch the film. If it had been a regular home invasion movie, would it have been so successful that a sequel would be justified? Unlikely.

It all had to do with the fact that the concept intrigued people. The film didn't have staying legs because word of mouth was terrible. I believe it was terrible because it didn't really use its concept that much, not because the movie was actually terrible.

If you look at that movie, on its own merits and not taking into consideration the fact that the concept wasn't used to its maximum effect, it wasn't a half-bad home invasion thriller. Not by a long shot.

While I believe some people genuinely hated the film, I believe that a lot of the negative reaction had to do with the fact that the marketing department built the movie up to be something it wasn't.

With that said, it's not like this is a masterpiece, far from it. But I believe it makes up for the fact that the first film completely revolved around one family. This one revolves on a group of people stuck outside during Purge night and everything they have to go through to just make it through to the next day.

And, in my opinion, this was much more of an action film than it was a horror film. It had hints of horror here and there, but it concentrates more on the action. Not like there's this big shootout scenes or big set-piece moments, but it is paced like an action film.

The social commentary in the film is as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. The government wants to keep the poor under control and the Purge is just a way to eliminate them. Of course there are groups of rich people that pay others less fortunate to be a sacrifice during this night.

Or they bid on a group of people in order to hunt them like sport. All that depraved shit that rich people like to get up to in movies. Like paying to watch an autistic amputee fuck an albino pig. But I think there's something about this film that's incredibly satisfying as a revenge-thriller.

Like taking all these sick fucks and just giving them a taste of their own medicine, I think there's something really satisfying about that. The film, while violent, doesn't really have any truly nasty kills.

So it's not like they use of the R-rated setting to its fullest potential. The characters are fairly one-dimensional, it was to be expected, but the performances themselves are decent. Nothing to truly write home about, but it's more than adequate.

In spite of all the improvements made to the film, I still don't think the movie truly uses its concept as well as it possibly could. While there is a deepening of how the New Founding Fathers came to power and why they did what they did, including a resistance group that helps our main characters when they really need it, it just doesn't feel like enough was done.

They make such a big deal about the New Founding Fathers granting all Americans these new rights, yet you never see any of these people. Other than a pre-Purge announcement by one of the people in the government, you don't see them.

..at all. I realize the NFF make their presence felt by making their goons hunt down the main characters, but that's a bit of a cheap way out of it. So, yet again, much like I did with the first film, I'm hoping that the New Founding Fathers play a much bigger part in the next installment of the film, which has been confirmed for release next year.

There's still room for this series to grow, but this was a definite step in the right direction. Here's to hoping that the third film lives up to its concept. Pretty good stuff right here.