Dir. James DeMonaco
Reviewed by Matt Adcock
"Traffic is building rapidly downtown…we advise you to get off the streets as quickly as possible. It'll soon be a war out there."
Imagine 2023 - crime is almost non-existent, homelessness and unemployment are below 5% and people value their very lives… This is the near future of The Purge: Anarchy, where thanks to an annual 12 hour period of sanctioned lawlessness – the poor are preyed upon, the defenceless are wiped out and the psychotic get to unleash and sate their bloodlust.
"your purge mates..."
The barbaric Purge initiative was introduced by the ruling party called ‘The New Founding Fathers’ – and despite the sheer utterly immorality of authorising mass murder, it seems to be getting results. But there are some who are planning to fight back and before the end of the night things may well be rather different.
This follows up last year’s The Purge taking the story to the streets rather than staying in the confines of a household – and the payoff is a wilder, nastier kinetic night of madness. We get to experience the macabre events through the eyes of a small bunch of people who find themselves on the streets and vulnerable due to various reasons.
"not a nice night for a walk"
Eva (Carmen Ejogo) is a poor waitress, trying to look after her sick father Rico (John Beasley) and teenage daughter Cali (Zoe Soul). Meanwhile Shane (Zach Gilford) and Liz (Kiele Sanchez) are an average couple on the verge of breaking up when their car breaks down leaving them stranded miles from their home, being tracked by a masked group of weapon toting thugs.
Finally meet Leo (Frank Grillo), he’s a man driven to violence who is packing a small arsenal and who seems to be on a mission of his own.
When this random group cross paths, all their lives will change as the Purge night is one that few trapped outside survive. Step forward for murder, mayhem and tension on a whole new scale. Oh and throw in the fact that the government may actually have their own kill teams on the streets targeting poor districts and you get a Hunger Games element to the mix.
"somebody call Mad Max?"
Writer / Director James DeMonaco certainly builds on the mythos he created with the original film and expands the twisted concept in all directions. Taking the carnage outside gives the heightened sense of ‘what would you do?’ especially as not everyone will potentially get to meet a tooled up hero such as Leo (who pretty much steals the whole movie with his Mad Max-esq lead role).
There are likely to be more Purges to come…
Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters:
öööö
(4 - Recommended for sickos!)
Awesomeness öööö – exciting and tense moments aplenty
Laughs öö – dark humour present but not much
Horror ööö – nasty in places
Babes öö – limited
Spiritual Enlightenment öö - inner bloodlust (nature or nuture?)
Recommended Hashtags: #AnAmericanTradition
"The NFFA are watching"
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