I really appreciate how director James DeMonaco has a second chance to fully embrace his absurd premise of the Purge a year later, and now seems to finally get it. The only way a film like “The Purge” could be any kind of fun is if it embraces its exploitation and darkly comic roots, and “Anarchy” achieves just that. DeMonaco also makes a case in the opening that you really don’t need to see the first movie to understand what the film is aiming for. Truthfully, unless you have a real weakness for home invasion films, “The Purge” can be skipped entirely. Director James DeMonaco blames a lot of the first film’s problems on budget constraints and really gets to explore his premise more with a wider scope, and better grasp of his own idea this time around.
The movie drops the sanctimonious pretenses of social commentary and class warfare commentary, there are a ton of goofy violent moments, and we’re now focused on average lower class individuals rather than moronic rich yuppies. “The Purge Anarchy” is set a year after the first film, where the US is still committed to the holiday of the Purge. Every year for one twelve hour period, citizens are allowed to commit any crimes they want. This, somehow, has improved society by lowering crime rates and improving employment. How? Who knows, really, but DeMonaco commits to the idea that the purge is a revolutionary concept in this alternate reality. Rather than one set of characters this time, “Anarchy” focuses on three sub-plots, all of which converge on the night where average citizens “release the beast” on everyone. Young couple Liz and Shane is set to wait out the purge with Shane’s sister, but after a stop at a local market, they run afoul a gang of purgers, all of whom have tampered with their car, and are now hunting the stranded pair.
Meanwhile, mother and daughter Eva and Cali wait out the purge in their apartment, with their terminally ill father. After discovering he’s sacrificed himself to wealthy purgers in order to leave them a fortune after his death, their apartment is broken in to by an army of SWAT members working for an enigmatic gun toting trucker named Big Daddy. On the other side of town, Leo is a grief stricken father who lost his son a year ago to a hit and run, and decides to head out during the Purge to find the man that killed his son and got off scot-free. Fates clash when the groups run in to one another in their efforts to survive, all the while war ensues when a powerful underground resistance army protesting the purge begins breaking down any orchestrated mass murders. DeMonaco really explores the more minute aspects of how the lower class handles the purge, providing his near future with madness reminiscent of “The Warriors,” and “Mad Max.” DeMonaco also delivers on near endless hyper violence including shoot outs and vicious murders.
Frank Grillo steals the movie as Leo, who is tasked with saving the four stranded survivors in an attempt to seal his own personal demons and cleanse his need for revenge. That said, there still aren’t a lot of questions answered about this concept. Does corporate or white collar crime count for the purge? Can a banker just unload customers’ accounts in to his own savings and call it a day? Do we only have to show savage minorities cannibalizing each other, or will DeMonaco explore more complex ideas about the purge? Are there repercussions beyond the law during the purge? Are there any kinds of companies that help cover damages for the purge, including insurance? And is it legal for people to leave the country before or during the Purge? Are roadways out of the country closed during the Purge? “The Purge Anarchy” is still a silly but interesting premise that deserves further exploration, and director James DeMonaco redeems himself with an imperfect but very entertaining and bleak action horror film.