Harefooted Halloween: The Purge: Anarchy

What I Liked: Frank Grillo (Warrior) as the action lead is fine.

What I Didn’t Like: The rest.

Overall Impressions: Guys, I got beef.  After seeing two installments I can conclude I strongly dislike The Purge series.  They’re not fun or clever or artistically well made or anything.  They just stink.  And I know I’m being harsh but these movies are infuriating.

I was hoping Part 2 was going to get me on board after an unsatisfactory Part 1 but nope, still not into it.  The concept of crime being legal for one day of the year while the rest of the time American society is supposedly completely normal is an impossibility that I can’t wrap my head around or accept.  This would need to be a post-apocalypse type scenario to get any sort of traction but that’s not the setup.  In fact hours and even minutes before the purge begins people are out casually driving around, going to the grocery store, calmly boarding up their homes and acting like total mayhem and ruin is not about to occur.  It’s such an awkward notion that these two ideas of society could co-exist that it doesn’t compute.

And I know I said this in the Part 1 review but I believe the legal crime gimmick actually makes these films worse.  Motivation is eliminated.  People kill simply because they can.  There’s no reason for you to get invested.  There’s no depth, consequences or stakes.  Let’s take an example from Anarchy.  At one point we’re shown a ballroom full of elegantly dressed rich folks who auction off kidnapped lower class people to be murdered.  Since this is all above board, and even expected to a certain extent, in the context of the movie there’s no bite to it.  Anything goes, so do what you want.  But if this scene took place in the regular world it would be incredibly disturbing in a Most Dangerous Game type way because it’s an insane underground event that’s completely against all societal and moral norms.

Here's another example (spoilers…who fucking cares?), we eventually find out that the government is covertly purging the population because citizens aren’t racking up enough bodies (meaning poorer people) on their own.  This is intended to be a holy shit moment but again, with the setup presented this is all totally legal so why should I give a shit?  Now if this storyline took place in the regular world this would be some really scary shit and a legitimate conspiracy.

Even though Anarchy is ever so slightly better than the original it’s still bad.  Writer/director James DeMonaco said he went for an Escape from New York vibe which definitely comes through.  Instead of one family defending a single location we have a random group of non-purgers (those that may or may not condone the holiday but abstain from participating regardless) get stuck on the streets of LA and try to stay alive until dawn.  Most encounters go down the same way with little ingenuity where it’s just some asshole with a gun shooting at them.  And a lot of scenes end deus ex machina style with someone coming to the rescue at the last second with a gun of their own.  It gets tedious quick.

This is repetitive, I know, but the core idea of this franchise is too flawed for me to turn off my brain and enjoy.  Even putting aside the major mistake the filmmakers made of having ALL crime be legal for twelve hours (so shit like rape, torture, devastation of food supplies, billion dollar theft, etc. are fine yet the filmmakers didn’t want to touch on these horrible acts in any way (in the first two Purges at least) because they’re, you know, sorta unpleasant), when they really meant only bodily harm/murder is permitted, shit still doesn’t add up.

The opening exposition from the filmmakers, not characters within the film mind you but the filmmakers themselves, states that due to the success of the purge crime, poverty and unemployment are virtually non-existent.  In my mind this conjures up an image of a nation comprised essentially of 100% wealthy blood hungry psychopaths.  But that’s not what we’re shown.  Instead the world outside of the purge hours is revealed to be astoundingly ordinary and recognizable.  We see affluent communities sure, but also plenty of folks that don’t look well off.  Moreover, LA still has a dingy appearance, gangs continue to roam around and financial crimes still occur.  So not the utopia we’re led to believe.  I mean if anything you would think the purge would increase crime because once you let the dog off the leash why would society go back to acting like perfect citizens when the timer’s up?  But amazingly this is what happens.  People are pointing guns at each other, all hopped up and crazy, but then the bell chimes to end the purge and they all put their weapons down and walk away.  They obey instantly.  What the fuck?  I refuse to buy that.

No matter what angle you approach the concept, story or characters from it never makes any goddamn sense.  What sane normal non-purger person would put up with this?  Between the mass death, ravaged economy from the enormous destruction and immensely broken society I would think they would leave the country.  I don’t care that the film attempts to hand wave this away by saying everything is peachy beyond those twelve hours.  You can’t have both at the same time.

Say what you want about the Saws but the soap opera plot twists offer tons of intrigue plus the deathtraps are imaginative, if convoluted, contraptions.  And the Final Destinations with their Rube Goldberg-esque kills and ability to have a tongue-in-cheek attitude are plain fun.  Hell, the John Wick pictures may be live action cartoons where every sequence is over the top but visually they’re beautiful and the creativity put into the jaw dropping choreography makes them treasures.  The Purges on the other hand are ugly productions stuffed with poorly executed horror/action tropes with heavy handed messaging that take themselves way too seriously.  They’re not entertaining which is a shame.  They’re kinda trash.

Full disclosure, originally I was planning on covering the entire series but I can’t do it.  I’m tapping out after Part 2.  You could say I’m purging this franchise from my life.