Breaking Down The Purge: Anarchy

In a summer season loaded with intriguing films, such as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Hercules, Lucy, and many others, one of the movies that I was particularly looking forward to seeing was The Purge: Anarchy. Although I felt the original Purge movie came up short in terms of expectations, the idea behind the movie was something that caught people's attention. I'll admit it, the first wasn't terrible and wasn't terrific, but it was rather narrow in scope. It left the viewers with many unanswered questions. All we saw was how the night was witnessed by one individual family. I left the theater thinking what the annual night consisted of on the streets or in downtown. However, The Purge: Anarchy lets you see an unlikely group of individuals trying to survive their night out on the streets. If you don't already know the idea behind writer/director James DeMonaco's Purge movies, it is the existence of an annual 12 hours where all crime is legal. The result of this is lower unemployment levels and decreased amounts of crime. It is a unique idea that seems to separate itself from the other movies out there.

Now, let's look into this group of individuals who for different reasons are forced to try to survive the 12 hours outside. There is a waitress mother and her daughter (Carmen Ejogo and Zoe Soul), who are kidnapped and dragged out of their home before being saved by a mysterious man (Frank Grillo) determined to avenge the death of his son. Closing out the group is a couple (Zach Gilford and Kiele Sanchez) forced to try to find shelter after their vehicle breaks down on the highway. The cast of lesser-known actors and actresses may stop some people from viewing the film, but I feel that is a mistake. DeMonaco has created many thought-provoking moments in this film. While the Purge itself will likely never happen, it makes you think of how the only reason unemployment is said to be at an all-time low is because the rich are killing off the poor in the film. There are definitely times where the movie fails to reach what it could be. However, I was surely impressed by the overall production and would recommend anyone going out to see it.

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