The original Purge
film was an unexpected smash hit, likely due to a combination of being released
during a slow week at the box office and having a premise that, while never
really capitalized on, tricked a lot of people into thinking this generic home slasher
was more intellectual than it actually was.
Regardless of the reasons, that film’s success spawn a sequel a mere
year later in the form of The Purge:
Anarchy. And the results are
decidedly better this time, so much so that I’m actually willing to call this movie
good. It’s still fairly disposable and
not really all that memorable, but the political commentary is now front and
center in the narrative, which means that the premise is actually being fleshed
out to the point where it’s not simply window dressing for a duped audience.
This film follows five characters caught out in The Purge
and sees what sorts of intense situations arise when all laws are suspended and
everyone has free license to kill and maim as they please. The characters themselves aren’t terribly
deep, and the only one that really gets any development is the main hero, a man
bent on going out into The Purge to kill the drunk driver who killed his
son. He’s the action hero of this
escapade, defending the other four normal people as they try to make their way
to safety through the night.
The characters aren’t so much the focus though as vehicles
through which to show the audience different aspects of The Purge. This includes rich people paying to
sacrificially slaughter the elderly and ill, auctioning off the poor to act as
prey in human fox hunts, and the government sending out a private army to
capitalize on The Purge in order to systematically eliminate the poor and
defenseless. If you see a running theme
of the naturally predatory nature of capitalism and the transformation of class
warfare into a literal slaughter of the poor, that is by no means
accidental. Whereas the first film used
its premise as an excuse to tell a tiredly clichéd horror narrative, Anarchy opts to be a full-on political
commentary, and it’s by no means subtle about it.
And as much as I like that this franchise is moving in that
direction, it’s greatest strength ends up cutting against it like an ironically
double-edged sword. The franchise has
found its calling as a series of political satires, but it doesn’t know what to
do beyond being as obvious about it as possible. Being blunt isn’t necessarily a bad thing,
but the film does feel a little shallow when the depth of the commentary
extends to preening rich folks bowing their heads in sacrificial prayer and the
lower classes waving guns around proclaiming their rights. If the first film was hesitant to dip its toe
in the waters of political satire, this film has dived in head first, only to discover that it has the depth of a kiddy pool.
That said, The Purge:
Anarchy is still a fun ride. The
action is good, and the commentary is cartoonish, but it’s all in the name of
entertainment. And yeah, I was
entertained. If this franchise
continues, the main route to improvement now lies in actually tying the setting
into telling a character-centric story instead of simply demonstrating the
potential this setting has to offer.
Unlike the first film, I’d say that Anarchy
is worthy of a rental, and perhaps a third installment will actually be worthy
of unqualified praise.
Any thoughts on the trajectory of The Purge franchise? Let me
know in the comments below.
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