The Purge 2: Anarchy Review

Movie: The Purge 2: Anarchy
By: Maniac E
Date: July 25, 2014

Where did the purge leave us?

The annual Purge is upon us once again, this time it will be harder and all over the city. It will not be about a family locked inside their home, now its complete anarchy. I always liked the concept of the movie, one night to be your own judge and make things as you want them to be. Will the concept be better thought out this time?

Grillo plays a police sergeant named Leo Barnes. While most people try to stay safe at home, during the Purge, Barnes ventures out into it. He lost his son a year earlier and wants revenge. Sanchez and Gilford play a couple named Liz and Shane. They're driving to Shane's sister's house, to hide out at during the Purge, when their car breaks down shortly before 'commencement'. Ejogo plays a waitress named Eva. Eva is struggling to make enough money to support her sick father, Papa Rico (John Beasley), and young daughter, Cali (Soul). Their apartment building is attacked by a death squad and Eva and Cali are dragged out into the street. Leo sees them about to be killed and reluctantly intervenes. Eva and Cali then look to Barnes for protection. So do Liz and Shane, as they try to escape the gang chasing them.

So is the second installment of this franchise better than the first, that is probably the first thing you want to know. Yes, it shows more of what the Purge means for people and how scared a complete city is, is of the purge. But the movie fails again to do something really impressive and it won't hunt your thoughts for long. The characters are bland and un-inspirable, they are acting like complete goofballs and ending up in these utter cliches again. While the whole concept just screams do something with me! There are so many possibilities in the stories the horror of the whole purge to make it more compelling. It feels shallow and empty in the end.

The movie does show a better perspective on why and how the purge works. Not being focused on just the rich people but showing the complete population and their fears for it. The first 20 minutes where things are being set up are for the best ones and giving a creepy and eerie feel to it. Once the real actions breaks lose it kind of falls apart in every department and turning into a brainless action flick without any suspense. You can see that the creators of the Purge 2 did try and listen to the comments of the people and it did end up better than the first one. Some would even say this is the movie the first one needed to be. The problem isn't the story because that is clear and very well able to work in great ways. The problem is the fact it is all too nice, yes people are being shot and there is truck with a massive machinegun but it is still way too quickly done and in the end we only get to see guns.

No again this movie isn't striking a home run at all. There is too much wrong with the generic script and the way the story evolves. It shows us more this time that is true but more means also show more horror of what the purge could really do. It is a night everything is legal imagine what this can spark within people which sick thoughts they want to make real. No the movie ends up in the generic space of mediocre action, gun shooting seen before crap. They leave it open for a new movie at the end so if they make a new one finally do more with the story! Make sure you don't keep going into cliches the whole time. This really breaks the movie for me and makes me not enjoy it in the end.