Imagine a world where most crime is legal during a 12-hour span at the same time every year on March 21 with no emergency services. What comes to mind? Maybe your kids, parents, precious pets, maybe close friends, or even that guy that cut you off last week? The purge plays a lot on the fact love and hate isn’t always easy to see. By that, I mean the enemy can be closer than you think… In any way you slice the chaotic Purge world, it would be a complete breakdown of society as we know it. Especially with the crazies “letting the beast out”. That’s exactly what the Purge series is aiming for, even more so with the latest rendition within The Purge: Anarchy.
Digging a little deeper, the “Purge” ironically falls on, or just after the March Equinox. A time when the daylight and nighttime are visible for 12 hours each. In simpler terms, it also happens to mark the start of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. For the New Founding Fathers, spring cleaning never got easier! Intentional or not, it’s a pretty brilliant time for it to take place. So, put away your green get-up from St. Patties day, and gear up for the Purge. Unless you happen to be a leprechaun, I would say you can purge as-is, extra props for gold plating.
One of the real let downs of the film is the lack of impression that every nook and cranny is a completely gruesome slaughterhouse. We see a lot of dead bodies, people getting tossed into vans left and right, but there aren’t too many hack-n-slash scenes that let it all hang out. They had a perfect opportunity with the father but left that to the imagination. They had another scene towards the end, but left us in disappointment shortly after in the same fashion. The goriest scene in the movie was put in digitally, and even then, was pretty mild.
Use of purge banned class 4 weapons such as explosives, flame-throwing machines, and needless to say energy swords were also lacking in the kill’em all department. Sorry Chief. We really only see about two weapons that aren’t purge “legal”. Besides from the crazy notion of putting limits on a free-for-all, I expect more, like ten-fold more being a Michael Bay movie. That giant flaming bus doesn’t count either, Mr. Bay. Sure you can make an argument that there’s cameras recording everyone’s move in the whole city, but knowing that people waited all year for this event, I would think a few would go all out without fear of consequence. It’s a perfect recipe for this type of violence.
In The Purge: Anarchy, we see a lot of actors, as the story doesn’t follow one single person. But, rather you follow a decent sized group, who also encounter, you guessed it, other groups of people. Of those actors, the ones getting the most screen-time are Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez, Zoe Soul, and Jack Conley. Everyone really played their role pretty superb. No complaints whatsoever there.
The Purge: Anarchy will take you for a wild ride into a world pretty much the same as ours, but with one minor change. Most crime you can think of is legal for a 12 hour period for one day a year. Forbidding that you target a high-ranking official or use anything that goes boom. This film has great actors, great supporting roles, an overall likable plot, but ultimately fails at capitalizing upon that very thing it’s based around; death. Let’s not even get into the discussion of health insurance or life coverage if you check the box you partake in such activities…
