Cinema Report #30 - The Purge: Anarchy
First of all, I kind of liked this one better than the first Purge film, although you probably should watch that first. It’s not that the concept is very complicated or doesn’t get explained in the necessary essentials in this part, nor do their stories (as much as there are any) build on each other. However, the first film dealt with actually presenting the whole Purge concept and while there was no story in it to speak of, you learn that you can’t trust anybody and nobody is save and why. This understanding helps to justify certain actions in this new part, because it shows us other people and how they deal with that mad world … just with a bit of story included.
A new element is the evil government and some kind of revolutionaries. Both parties go out to purge, but while the government raids the living quarters of the poor with over-powering weapons, the revolutionaries hunt the soldiers and rich ones. However, for the major part of the movie they only show up in videos to tell those who want to listen (e.g. the smart teenager of the good guys) and the audience why and how wrong the Purge is. In detail. You really can’t not understand it. At least I was very relieved when they finally showed up and actually proved that they could do action, too, although it was a bit too convenient that they came to the rescue of the good guys just when all seemed lost, because there wasn’t really any indication that they would raid exactly that place.
Another new element (I think) was the concept of rich people paying poor people (or rather the family they leave behind) to purge them on private hunting grounds. While that concept sort of makes sense in that mad world, I was glad that it’s presence was at least justified by being shown at the beginning and later reprised at the end. Otherwise it would have been rather pointless, because it just would have been another kind of crazy.
The characters were all more or less realistic, as far as that can be expected in such a movie. A couple at the verge of separation, both a bit annoying and of course the whiny man got killed so that the apparently tougher woman could revenge him. A struggling mother with a slightly too smart teenager daughter - the good and brave souls of the group. I kind of liked that they weren’t beyond lying and pleading to survive, but would not betray their own beliefs. And then there is the renegade soldier who just wants to use the purge for his personal revenge, but ends up as protector of that odd party. He is almost charmingly annoyed by it all.
I wonder sometimes why Americans make movies that show them in such a bad light. On the other hand, this idea is probably not such a big secret, because most of us will have desired revenge or an outlet for their rage at one time or another - sane people just don’t act upon it and know they never should.