Theatrical Review: The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

We really, really did not like The Purge (read our review HERE) when we saw it last Summer, and to be honest, we dreaded the thought of there ever being a sequel.

Of course when any movie makes $90 million Worldwide on a $3 million budget, a sequel is a given. If I remember correctly, they announced development on The Purge 2 the Monday or Tuesday after The Purge's opening weekend where it made a massive $34 million.

The sequel was coming, and we could not have cared less.

Fast forward to early 2014, where we found ourselves watching the trailer for The Purge: Anarchy. Even though the trailer looked pretty good, and the sequel was centered around Frank Grillo in bad-ass commando mode, we still weren't sold.

Flash forward to now, where The Purge: Anarchy has had basically nothing but positive word of mouth surrounding it since its release, so we finally broke down and went to see how it all turned out.

It turns out that The Purge: Anarchy is everything that The Purge should have been, but wasn't.

The Purge:Anarchy centers around a group of basically Innocent people who get stuck on the streets after The Purge begins, and how they go about surviving until dawn.

There's a couple whose car breaks down and leaves them stranded; a mother & daughter that are dragged from the safety of their home and into the streets; and a Police Sergeant that is heavily armed and out for revenge; all of whom are brought together through and act of kindness (or stupidity, depending on how you look at it), and are forced to band together to stay alive.

The Purge is the disease, and he's the cure!

There's also a creepy gang who wear creepy masks and stare at people all creepy, before hunting them down; some heavily armed Government troops who ride around in mobile bases, culling people as they see fit; and Omar from The Wire, who is all like "fuck the Government, they gotsta get got!"

"It's all in the game, yo, all in the game."

With all of these factions on the streets either looking for blood to spill, or just trying to survive, things get pretty messy. Who will live? Who will die? And most important of all, will anyone kill the rich white people who you know just love killing them some poor folk because they're a scourge on their wonderful way of life? I don't know about all of that, but I can say that you absolutely know that The Purge 3 will be coming along sooner than later. Of that, there can be no doubt.

This bitch right here...

We can always tell when we love a movie by how fast, if at all, we say "I can't wait to get that on Blu-ray." The Purge: Anarchy was one hell of a suspenseful ride from start to finish, and our little minds are still buzzing about it a few days after the fact.

This sequel to the vastly inferior The Purge works so well because the story felt realistic and plausible, and it didn't insult us with dumb ass characters making a bunch of dumb ass decisions. It made sense, its characters were likable, and we were metaphorically on the edge of our seats hoping that everyone would survive until the end.

Frank Grillo is the man in this one. Ever since Warrior in 2011, the guy's been on a roll; The Grey, End of Watch, Disconnect, Zero Dark Thirty, Captain America: The Winter Solider, and now, The Purge. He's likable, has a great action presence, and he keeps getting juicy roles thrown at him. As good as he is, we're even willing to give the upcoming American remake of The Raid (ugh) half a chance. Half,we say.

It was also great to see Michael K. Williams play a small but fairly important role in this one. If you don't know his work as Omar from the HBO series The Wire, then you best get with it and go watch that brilliance, because Michael K. Williams is the man.

He came prepared, Mad Max style.

So you're out on the street with a City full of bloodthirsty purgers looking to kill anything that moves, and you're still yelling and arguing loud enough for anyone in the vicinity to hear you? I know that a Purge type of situation doesn't exactly lend itself to healthy mental states and good decision making, but for the love of God, people, shut the hell up!

New Purge Rule: anybody in your group talks above a whisper while you're in survival mode, you kill them for the good of the group. Problem solved.

"Hey y'all. See you soon!"

What kind of moron do you have to be to be out running errands in your local Downtown area right before The Purge is about to go down? Anything you need should have been bought days earlier, and your ass should have been home with your guns, just waiting to pop some caps in the asses of anyone stupid enough to try and get into your house.

"Let's go shopping, and then freak out when our car breaks down in the middle of the City, right as the sun is about to set, and The Purge is about to begin!" That sounds like a plan that someone with brain damage would come up with. 

At least they tried to stay indoors...

There's all sorts of killing in this one, but it never feels overly "gory." The movie is far more intense than it is visceral, but there's still plenty of blood and carnage for you bloodthirsty freaks to enjoy.

What is Carrie White dong in this movie?

Nothing of the sort, which is a good thing, because we're not too keen on seeing any sort of Purge Day rape action, or anything even close to that.

Rich, white people are The Devil. Also, stay the hell out of the City. Also, Frank Grillo is pretty bad-ass, and his star is about to rise even higher than it has already.

Also, Big Daddy don't play.

This sequel to The Purge is superior to the original in every way; it's lean, mean, has a great story that actually makes sense, has some characters that are actually likable, and it's filled with so much tension, that we basically had no finger nails left after watching it. If you haven't seen it yet, go out and do so while it's still in Theaters. This is one of the best movies of the Summer, and one of the best Genre offerings of 2014.

The Purge: Anarchy is in Theaters now.

A

Sure, Cortney Palm may have had very little screen time in this one, but she is way too hot for us to ignore here. Also, here's Carmen Ejogo and Kiele "dirty" Sanchez.