Review: The Purge: Anarchy

It’s Purge Night, and Carmen Ejogo and activist-minded daughter Zoe Soul have learned that their terminally ill father/grandfather John Beasley has offered himself up to the affluent as a suitable target for purging, so long as his family are handsomely paid for it. But before they have time to fully digest this bit of crazy selflessness, thugs break into their apartment and drag them away. Watching this unfold is a brooding white guy (Frank Grillo) who is trying his best not to act the hero. He seems to have something else he’d rather be doing, possibly even purging. Unfortunately for him )but fortunately for Ejogo and Soul), his conscience dictates he must intervene and helps the two women escape. They are soon joined by a young couple (Kiele Sanchez and Zach Gilford) who ran into danger when their car broke down on the one night in the year that you absolutely do not want that to happen. Now this band of five must stick together (or at least stick to Grillo like glue, as he’s a real butt-kicker) if they’re gonna survive the one night of the year when pretty much everyone is out to kill you. Jack Conley plays a mystery man who shows up, and Michael K. Williams is a revolutionary leader whose voice is heard throughout the film trying to convince everyone that ‘The Purge’ is merely an attempt to commit genocide against the poor and undesirables of society.

 

It wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I really enjoyed the original “The Purge”, from writer-director James DeMonaco (writer of “The Negotiator”), and he has followed it up with another winner. This 2014 film takes the same premise as the original, but takes it into a whole different genre, really. Rather than the tense home invasion horror/thriller of the original, this one’s going for a kind of post-apocalyptic (or maybe just apocalyptic) urban nightmare action/thriller, something in between George Romero (“Dawn of the Dead” and “Day of the Dead” in particular) and John Carpenter (think “Assault on Precinct 13”- DeMonaco wrote the remake of that one- and “Escape From New York”), and a touch of Walter Hill’s “The Warriors”. It’s the same film, but much more expansive in scope. In terms of the result, it’s pretty much on par with the original, I think, but if they’re gonna make any more of these films, they really ought to explore other crimes. The Purge allows for all crimes to be on the table, so why is murder (or attempted murder) the only one we ever see being carried out?

 

Things begin ominously, with ‘Stay Safe’ having become the standard phrase uttered in this film’s world instead of say ‘See you later’ or ‘Talk soon’. That’s kinda unsettling right off the bat. We also get long-time military technical adviser Dale Dye playing the ‘new founding father’ in what surely must rank as one of the most brilliant pieces of stunt casting in a cameo role ever. R. Lee Ermey would be the only other candidate better in the role, unless someone can dig up and reanimate Charlton Heston’s corpse. Meanwhile, ‘crazy face paint guy’ (whom you may remember earned TMZ’s attention for his bitching and moaning at not being paid for the filmmakers using his image on poster art) is clearly this film’s version of ‘creepy albino guy’ from “End of Days”. He may not have much screen time, but you’ll remember him, and he contributes to the uneasy sense of impending doom, which the original also had going for it. There’s also a really good, throbbing music score by Nathan Whitehead, something reminiscent of “The Running Man” or “Escape From New York”.

 

The multi-character approach here allows us to see how different people approach ‘The Purge’ differently, but it also opens the film up too, especially once we venture outside. And yet DeMonaco manages to maintain the tension throughout, just as well as he did in the first film. That’s pretty remarkable, considering the differences between the two approaches. The main family here (Carmen Ejogo, John Beasley, and Zoe Soul) are pretty easy to like, even when their ethnicity seems incredibly confusing. I’m guessing they are meant to be of mixed race, but Ejogo and Soul look Hispanic (but aren’t, the former is Nigerian-Scottish!), and character actor Beasley (whom I’ve seen plenty of times before) I already knew is an African-American and definitely looks it. Their friends and neighbours all appear to be Hispanic or at least not Anglo or African-American, adding to the confusion. It may not bother you, but I wasn’t sure what to think, and maybe that says more about my obsession with possibly irrelevant details, I dunno. But they’re definitely not affluent white folk, who are seen as pretty much the enemy here, so at least that difference was easy to understand. At any rate, Ejogo, Beasley, and Soul are definitely more likeable than the protagonists from the first film (Noel G., meanwhile is particularly repellent in a memorable cameo performance that might remind you of Tom Towles from Tom Savini’s remake of “Night of the Living Dead”, though a fair bit more subtle). Frank Grillo may be a cut-rate Jason Statham in a sense here (or at least Michael Biehn from “The Terminator” with a bit of an edge), but he does quite fine as the somewhat anti-hero. It’s a shame that he dumps his car so early in the film because that thing is straight out of “Death Race 2000” and all kinds of awesome.

 

There’s something really sick about a society that allows a loving father and grandfather of a minority background and lower economic standing to offer himself up as an intended murder victim to satiate the bloodlust of affluent white folk, just to provide for his family after he is dead. It’s not the most thought-provoking film of all-time, but it certainly has a few things to say and says them pretty well. At times, especially near the end, it’ll remind you of the “Hostel” series (with a touch of “Surviving the Game”), except this film does it right and doesn’t depend on cheap ‘torture porn’ and sleazy characters. It also wears its influences on its sleeve proudly. In addition to the films and directors I’ve cited above, the original (and in my view, the best) “Mad Max” springs to mind, especially with the Grillo character and especially the second half of “Mad Max”. It’s a really good-looking film, with excellent shot composition and some awesome urban nightmare imagery. It’s kinda cool, if a tad over-reliant on slow-mo for my liking. The lighting is especially worth praising, not relying on just one colour, but many. It’s terrific, so kudos to Jacques Jouffret there, who also shoots things in a far more stable fashion than was the case in the original.

 

The drastic change from home invasion horror/thriller to more action-oriented, multi-character flick will alienate some who enjoyed the first film, and be accepted by some who disliked the first one. I was able to enjoy both films pretty equally in their own way, to be honest. But next time, Mr. DeMonaco, how about exploring different kinds of ‘purging’? Just a thought.

 

Rating: B-