The Purge: Anarchy

You’ll want to purge, too, after watching this movie.

Take_Two Logo

Hear “Take Two Movie Reviews” every Saturday and Sunday on WHAV.

Someone who has never watched the first “Purge” will have no problems grasping the plot of the sequel. Set in the near future, the US government has allotted one night out of every year for 12 hours of anarchy. During that time, citizens are allowed, with a few exceptions, to kill whomever they desire. This is justified on the basis that the purge allows citizens to get out their pent-up aggressions which in turn leads to a lower overall crime rate.

Of course, things aren’t exactly they seem and as we follow 5 people randomly thrown together on the night of the annual purge, we learn that the government’s New Founding Fathers’ motives are far more sinister than most could imagine.

While the premise contained in “The Purge: Anarchy” sounds interesting, the movie falls drastically short of its potential. In a nutshell, the movie is ultra-violent, with a thin plot and even thinner characters. It appears as if the writer of this movie had no interest in creating actual, well-rounded characters but instead was content to fall back on stereotypes. Likewise, the actors portraying the characters are largely forgettable as well with the sole exception of Frank Grillo. At the very least, he deserves an “A” for effort for making the most of the bad material given to him.
However, Grillo’s performance alone isn’t worth the price of admission or the price of sitting through this movie. This is one movie to purge from your “to see” list.