Director: James DeMonaco
Starring: Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford
My Rating: Loved It!
I wasn't looking forward to watching this movie, to be honest. The first one didn't really explore the idea very well, had stupid gaps in simple logic, and was a little home invasion movie with bigger, hopeless aspirations. The Purge: Anarchy is an improvement over the first film in every. single. way. I assume that the first movie was limited because of the budget. I see the first one as simply a bridge to get to the movie that James DeMonaco actually wanted to make.
I still maintain that the concept is at once intriguing and preposterous, and it certainly made for a highly entertaining movie this time around. Anarchy puts the viewer right in the middle of the city following a group of stranded survivors amidst all of the chaos, as opposed to being confined to one house the whole film. Throughout you encounter a slew of characters with many different motives, including greed, revenge, anarchy, etc.
The most interesting part of it was how it painted the rich as sick and twisted, verging on psychopathic, voyeurs. These scenes are by far the most disturbing of the film, and I loved them! The Purge: Anarchy may not have a whole lot to say about America's problems and the 1% running things, but it's an excellently entertaining action/horror movie. Skip the first and go straight for Anarchy!