The Purge: Anarchy

The Purge: Anarchy
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	James DeMonaco
Produced by	Jason Blum Michael Bay Andrew Form Brad Fuller Sebastien Lemercier
Written by	James DeMonaco
Starring	Frank Grillo Carmen Ejogo Zach Gilford Kiele Sanchez Zoë Soul Michael K. Williams
Music by	Nathan Whitehead
Cinematography	Jacques Jouffret
Edited by	Todd E. Miller Vince Filippone
Production companies	Platinum Dunes Blumhouse Productions Why Not Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	July 18, 2014 (2014-07-18)
Running time	103 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$9 million[2]
Box office	$111.9 million[2]

The Purge: Anarchy is a 2014 American dystopian action horror film written and directed by James DeMonaco. The sequel to the 2013 film The Purge, it stars Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez, Zoë Soul and Michael K. Williams, with Edwin Hodge as the only actor to reprise his role from the first film. It was released worldwide on July 18, 2014.^[3] It is the second installment in DeMonaco's Purge film series.

The film was met with mixed reviews, with most critics agreeing the film was an improvement over the original, and grossed over $111 million. While the first film was set entirely in one house during the carnage, Anarchy takes viewers out to the Los Angeles area and shows more of what happens to the surroundings during the Purge. A third film in the series, The Purge: Election Year, was released on July 1, 2016.

Plot

On March 21, 2023, the media credits the annual Purge, a twelve-hour period wherein all crimes are legal without authorities intervening, as an economic success. Everywhere, people either prepare to barricade themselves indoors or commit acts of violence. The nation's impoverished population are no longer seen as people, but as living garbage, who the wealthy denounce as only living to serve their needs. However, before the sixth annual Purge begins, a successful anti-Purge resistance group led by Carmelo Johns and his partner, the Stranger from the first film who is revealed as "Dwayne" (name not mentioned in the film) hijack government feeds to denounce the New Founding Fathers and their actions.

In Los Angeles, working class waitress Eva Sanchez returns home to her daughter Cali and terminally ill father Rico, who also despises the New Founding Fathers. Rico slips out to a waiting limousine, leaving a note for his family revealing that he has sold himself as a Purge offering in exchange for $100,000 to be paid to Eva and Cali following the Purge.

Married couple Shane and Liz visit a grocery store only to be ambushed by a masked gang of bikers. As they drive away to avoid them, their car breaks down. It is then revealed that the biker gang had cut their fuel line and has been pursuing them since they left. Meanwhile, an off-duty Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Leo Barnes (name not mentioned in the movie)^[4][5] plans to Purge to avenge the death of his son against the advice of his ex-wife, and goes out to the streets heavily armed posing as a vigilante.

As Shane and Liz try to find safer hiding places, the sirens blare and the Purge commences. Eva and Cali are attacked by their lustful superintendent Diego, whose relationship with Eva was once rejected in the past, but he is gunned down by a paramilitary platoon, who capture the women to offer them to their leader Big Daddy for his own personal Purge. The Sergeant arrives and rescues them after killing the troops and wounding Big Daddy. They return only to find Shane and Liz hiding in Sergeant's car. The group flees just as Big Daddy fires at them, heavily damaging the car. As the Sergeant's car breaks down, the group flees on foot to reach the home of Eva's co-worker Tanya and borrow her car. They navigate their way through the hostile streets, finding evidence that the Anti-Purge group has been gaining the upper hand against the purgers and the NFFA. After freeing Shane from a trap and taking guns from an abandoned purger's van, they head to the subways thinking that they are safe. A pyrotechnic purging gang invades the subways and sets hiding people on fire, causing chaos. Liz and Shane fend off the gang, resulting in Shane getting wounded but the group manages to escape.

The group reach Tanya's flat, but learn there is no car there. Tanya's family take them in, offering them dinner and medicine. However, Tanya's sister Lorraine proceeds to murder her sister for sleeping with her husband. The group leave the family to their fate, only to be captured by the masked gang, who take them to a theater where upper class Purgers bid them for human hunting. In the purging arena, the Sergeant fights back, killing the hunters. Witnessing this, the host purger calls for backup. Security forces swarm the chamber and kill Shane. Suddenly, the Anti-Purge group led by Carmelo and the Stranger invade the arena and kills more of the purging team. Liz chooses to join the Anti-Purge group to avenge Shane's death, while the others leave. The Sergeant hijacks the host purger's car and threatens her before leaving.

The Sergeant, Eva, and Cali drive up to a suburban neighborhood and stops at the home of Warren Grass. He reveals that Grass killed his son while driving under the influence but was acquitted on legal technicalities. Despite Cali begging him to not give in to revenge, the Sergeant ventures into the house, threatening Warren and his wife. The scene cuts away wherein Sergeant exits the house covered in blood, only to be shot by Big Daddy, who reprimands the Sergeant for trying to play the hero, while also revealing that the New Founding Fathers have secretly dispatched death squads to increase the body count because the Purge eliminates too few of the lower class, possibly due to purgers murdering those who they have personal grudges on and not just random people. Just as Big Daddy is about to kill the Sergeant, Warren appears and kills Big Daddy with his .45, revealing that the Sergeant had forgiven and spared him. As Big Daddy's death squad appears, sirens blare to signal the end of the Purge. Warren drives Eva, Cali and the Sergeant to the hospital where they reach just in time as news and police helicopters fly over the city, slightly devastated by the events of the evening.

Cast

Production

On June 10, 2013 Universal Pictures and Jason Blum announced the development of the sequel, after the success of The Purge.^[8] Initially a release date was set for June 20, 2014^[9] although this was later pushed back to July 18.^[3]

Principal photography was underway in Los Angeles when Blumhouse Productions released their countdown promo art on January 1, 2014.^[10] Filming wrapped on February 10, 2014.^[11]

Marketing

The first trailer was released on February 12, 2014.^[12] On March 27, another full-length trailer was released by Universal.^[13] Another new trailer was released on June 23.^[14]

Home media

The Purge: Anarchy was released on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital on October 21, 2014.^[15]

Reception

Box office

The Purge: Anarchy grossed $72 million in America and $38.6 million in other countries for a total gross of $110.6 million, against a budget of $9 million.^[2]

The film was released in North America in 3,303 theaters,^[16] and earned $2.6 million in its first night.^[17] In its opening weekend, the film grossed $29.8 million, finishing in second place behind the continued run of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. This was about $4 million less than the opening of the original film ($34 million).^[18]

Critical reception

The Purge: Anarchy received mixed reviews from critics, but most agreed that the film was an improvement over its predecessor and found praise for Grillo's performance. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 56%, based on 126 reviews, with the consensus reading: "Gritty, grisly, and uncommonly ambitious, The Purge: Anarchy represents a slight improvement over its predecessor, but it's still never as smart or resonant as it tries to be".^[19] On Metacritic, the film has a score 50 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a "B" grade on a scale of A+ to F.^[21]

Sequel

A third film in the series titled The Purge: Election Year was released on July 1, 2016.

Other media

The film was the theme for a scare zone in the 2014 edition of Halloween Horror Nights at two of the Universal Parks & Resorts. It was also a house at Halloween Horror Nights the following year in Orlando while Hollywood received a scare zone and being the main theme of Terror Tram.

References

External links

• Official website
• The Purge: Anarchy at the Internet Movie Database
• The Purge: Anarchy at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Purge: Anarchy at Box Office Mojo
• The Purge: Anarchy at the Internet Movie Firearms Database