20150502: Horror Review--The Purge Anarchy

The Purge: Anarchy

1. Fundamentals.
1. Title: The Purge: Anarchy
2. IMDb: Users rated this 6.5/10 (62,969 votes)
3. Rotten Tomatoes:
   57% of critics liked it, of 118 who rated it
   58% of viewers liked it, of 64,921 who rated it
   Critics Consensus:  Gritty, grisly, and uncommonly ambitious, The Purge: Anarchy represents a slight improvement over its predecessor, but it's still never as smart or resonant as it tries to be.


4. Status: Released
5. Release date: 2014-07-17
6. Production Companies: Universal Pictures, Why Not Productions, Platinum Dunes, Blumhouse Productions, 5150 Action
7. Production Countries: France, United States of America
8. Tagline: Welcome to America, where one night a year, all crime Is legal.


9. Budget:  9 million USD
10. Revenue: 109 million USD
11. Runtime: 104 minutes.
12. Genres: Horror, Thriller


13. Directed by: James DeMonaco; written by James DeMonaco


14. Starring: Frank Grillo as Sergeant, Carmen Ejogo as Eva Sanchez, Zach Gilford as Shane, Kiele Sanchez as Liz, Zoë Borde as Cali, Justina Machado as Tanya, John Beasley as Papa Rico, Jack Conley as Big Daddy, Noel Gugliemi as Diego, Castulo Guerra as Barney


15. TMDb overview: Sequel to The Purge. The New Founders of America invite you to celebrate your annual right to Purge. The Purge: Anarchy, the sequel to summer 2013's sleeper hit that opened to No. 1 at the box-office, sees the return of writer/director James DeMonaco to craft the next terrifying chapter of dutiful citizens preparing for their country's yearly 12 hours of anarchy.


2. Setup and Plot


1. America, 2023, Los Angeles.  Use of The Purge continues to eliminate people who live below the poverty line.  The film starts at March 21 at 16:34; that is, 2 hours, 26 minutes before the onset of the sixth annual 12 hour Purge.  The opening scene is at a diner.  Various Latinos wish each other to 'Stay Safe' before they head to sanctuary and whatever weapons they have.


2. Great opposition campaign slogan: We no longer worship at the altar of Christ, Mohammed, or Yahweh.  We worship at the altar of Smith and Wesson.


3. Thread 1: Papa Rico, mother Cali, and daughter Eva are together in a small house.  Papa announces he's going to sleep through it after boarding up his room, but he has a different mission to attempt.  Will he succeed?  How will the women do?


4. Thread 2: Shane and Liz are a twenty-something couple who are trying to stay out of trouble, but it comes looking for them early: a gang sabotaged their car.  They had decided to split up.  They are squabbling over how to announce it when they discover the bad news about the car.  Will they last long against the reaper gangs?


5. Thread 3: will the opposition accomplish anything? Will they target the thug gangs or the rich?


6. Thread 4: Sergeant roams the deserted downtown Los Angeles, looking for opportunities.  He saves a few people from a circumstance or two by killing gang members.  Will his early success continue?


3. Conclusions
1. In the first film, most of the characters may have been rich and privileged, but were too arrogant to live.  In this film, some of the characters at least offer some meaningful resistance.
2. One line summary: Class warfare in 2023 from the outlier POV.
3. Three stars of five


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 3/10 In most of the frames, 70% or so of the screen is out of focus. I have better things to do than watch amateur nonsense. Occasionally, the view is warm and clear and well-focused.  Then there is the recurrent shaky-cam footage.


2. Sound: 8/10 I could hear the dialog.  The background music heightened tension.


3. Acting: 5/10  All the actors were better than the child actors (the main saboteurs) in the original.


4. Screenplay: 6/10 The script is ambitious, and the issues hot in the environment of 2015 America.  Did the director engage me with the issues of the opposition?  No.  I never believed they had a chance, which is unfortunate.  Did the director get me to care about the main characters representing the lower class?  Again, no.  Most of them were too stupid to live.  So, what am I left with?  Plenty of characters to despise or not care about, but no one to identify with or to empathise with.