The Purge: Anarchy

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The Purge: Anarchy
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJames DeMonaco
Written byJames DeMonaco
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJacques Jouffret
Edited by
  • Todd E. Miller
  • Vince Filippone
Music byNathan Whitehead
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • July 18, 2014 (2014-07-18)
Running time
104 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$9–11 million[2][3]
Box office$111.9 million[4]

The Purge: Anarchy is a 2014 American dystopian action horror film written and directed by James DeMonaco. A sequel to 2013's The Purge and the second installment in the Purge franchise, the film stars Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez, and Michael K. Williams. Edwin Hodge reprised his role from the first film. It was released worldwide on July 18, 2014.

The film grossed over $111 million and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised it as an improvement over its predecessor, but criticized its clichéd formula and screenplay. While the first film was set largely in one house, Anarchy takes place around the Greater Los Angeles area and shows more of what happens to the surroundings during the event. A third film in the series, The Purge: Election Year, was released on July 1, 2016.

Plot[edit]

A dystopian United States, ruled by a totalitarian government known as the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA), is preparing for the annual Purge, a 12-hour event that legalizes all crimes without authorities. However, an anti-Purge resistance group led by partners Carmelo Johns and Dante Bishop hijacks 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. As Eva and Cali prepare to barricade themselves, just as the Purge starts, Rico slips out to a waiting limousine; it is revealed he has offered himself to be killed by a rich family in exchange for money paid to Eva and Cali. Meanwhile, estranged married couple Shane and Liz visit a grocery store, only to be harassed by a masked gang of skateboarders and dirt bikers. Their car breaks down, having been tampered with by the biker gang.

Off-duty LAPD sergeant Leo Barnes plots to kill Warren Grass. The day before the previous year's Purge[a], Grass struck Leo's son Nicholas while driving drunk, but was acquitted due to Nicholas dying on Purge night. Ignoring his ex-wife Janice's pleas, Leo loads up his armored car with several weapons and drives out into the streets.

The Purge commences. Eva and Cali notice NFFA paramilitary amassing in the street below, and the superintendent, Diego, enters her apartment. Diego is gunned down by a paramilitary platoon, which captures the women to offer them to their leader, Big Daddy. Leo passes by and rescues Eva and Cali after killing the troops and wounding Big Daddy. They find Shane and Liz hiding in Leo's car. The group flees just as Big Daddy fires at them. After Leo's car breaks down, the group flees on foot.

As the group navigates the hostile streets, they find a paramilitary van surrounded by soldiers who were shot to death by the resistance fighters. After freeing Shane from a trap and taking guns from the abandoned truck, they head to the subways. Pyrotechnic Purging gang invades the subways and sets the tunnel ablaze. Shane is wounded, but the group manages to escape after he and Liz destroy the gang's all-terrain vehicle and its propane tank with the salvaged guns.

The group returns to the streets, but as they near Tanya's apartment building, Eva unknowingly signals a traffic camera to identify them to the paramilitary troops. They reach Tanya's house, and Tanya's family takes them in. However, Tanya's sister Lorraine murders her sister for sleeping with her husband. The group leaves the family, only to be captured by the masked gang who ambushed Shane and Liz earlier. The gang sells them to an auction, taking them to a theater where upper-class Purgers bid on them for human hunting.

After the group is forced into the arena, Leo subdues and kills a Purger, taking his weapon and night vision device, overpowering and killing several other attackers, before the head Purger calls in security. Shane is shot and killed by security forces just before the anti-Purge group attacks the compound, killing the security forces and remaining Purgers; Liz chooses to stay with the resistance fighters while Leo, Eva, and Cali leave. Leo steals a car and drives off with Eva and Cali.

Leo, Eva, and Cali drive up to a suburban neighborhood and stop at the home of Warren Grass. Leo ventures into the house despite Eva and Cali's pleas to abandon his revenge, threatening Warren and his wife. As Leo exits the house, he is shot by Big Daddy. He reveals that the NFFA secretly dispatches death squads to increase the body count because the purge has been eliminating too few people of the lower class. Just as Big Daddy is about to kill Leo, Warren appears and kills Big Daddy, revealing that Leo chose to forgive and spare him. As Big Daddy's death squad appears while Eva, Cali, and Warren prepare to defend themselves, sirens blare to signal the end of the purge (making Big Daddy's death legal and sparing Leo). Warren drives Eva, Cali, and Leo to the hospital as news and police helicopters fly over the city.

Cast[edit]

  • Frank Grillo as Leo Barnes (credited as the "Sergeant"),[5][6] an off duty LAPD Police Sergeant who goes out on Purge Night to find Warren Grass so he can avenge his son's death.
  • Carmen Ejogo as Eva Sanchez, a waitress
  • Zach Gilford as Shane, estranged husband of Liz
  • Kiele Sanchez as Liz, estranged wife of Shane
  • Zoë Soul as Cali Sanchez, Eva's 17-year old daughter
  • Justina Machado as Tanya, friend of Eva and co-worker
  • John Beasley as Papa Rico Sanchez, father of Eva and Cali's grandfather
  • Jack Conley as Big Daddy, leader of a Death Squad
  • Noel G. as Diego, an obsessed building caretaker at Eva and Cali's residence
  • Castulo Guerra as Barney, father of Tanya and Lorraine
  • Michael K. Williams as Carmelo Johns, leader of an Anti-Purge group
  • Edwin Hodge as Dante Bishop (credited as "The Stranger"), member of an Anti-Purge group
  • Lakeith Stanfield as Young Ghoul Face, leader of a purger gang
  • Roberta Valderrama as Lorraine, sister of Tanya and wife of Roddy
  • Niko Nicotera as Roddy, Tanya's brother-in-law who she has secret affairs with
  • Bel Hernandez as Katherine, Tanya and Lorraine's mother
  • Lily Knight as Mrs. Crawley, Eva and Tanya's employer
  • Brandon Keener as Warren Grass, the person responsible for killing Leo's son while drunk driving
  • Amy Price-Francis as Mrs. Grass, Warren's wife
  • Vick Sabitjian as Mr. Sabian, a frequent customer in Eva's workplace
  • Nicholas Gonzalez as Carlos, co-worker of Eva and Tanya
  • Chad Morgan as Janice, Leo's ex-wife
  • Judith McConnell as Old Elegant Woman, hostess of an elite Purge game
  • Dale Dye as New Founding Father Donald Talbot
  • Cindy Robinson as the Purge Emergency Broadcast System announcement voice[7] (uncredited)

Tyler Osterkamp and Nathan Clarkson reprise their roles as Freak Purgers from The Purge in an uncredited capacity, while archive footage of Ethan Hawke, Rhys Wakefield, and Alicia Vela-Bailey as James Sandin, Polite Leader and the Blonde Female Freak Purger from The Purge is also shown over the end credits.

Production[edit]

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.[10] Principal photography was underway in Los Angeles when Blumhouse Productions released their countdown promo art on January 1, 2014.[11] Filming wrapped on February 10, 2014.[12]

Home media[edit]

The Purge: Anarchy was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on October 21, 2014.[13] The film was released on 4K UHD Blu-Ray on June 12, 2018.[14] It grossed $12 million in home video sales.[15]

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

The Purge: Anarchy grossed $72 million in America and $40 million in other countries for a total gross of $111.9 million, against a budget of $9 million.[3]

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 response[edit]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 58% based on 144 reviews, with an average rating of 5.40/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "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 weighted average score 50 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[21]

Note[edit]

  1. ^ as depicted in The Purge (2013 film)

Sequel[edit]

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

Legacy[edit]

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. [citation needed]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "THE PURGE: ANARCHY (15)". Universal Studios. British Board of Film Classification. June 30, 2014. Archived from the original on July 7, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  2. ^ "Feature Film Study" (PDF). Film L.A. Inc. 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 12, 2017. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "The Purge: Anarchy (2014)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on November 27, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  4. ^ "The Purge: Anarchy". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 26, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  5. ^ DeMonaco, James (2014). "Behind the Anarchy (Blu-Ray Documentary)". Universal Pictures.
  6. ^ The character's name was revealed to be "Leo Barnes" in The Purge: Election Year.
  7. ^ The character's real name was revealed as "Megan Lewis" in The Purge television series.
  8. ^ Kit, Borys (June 10, 2013). "Universal, Jason Blum Throw Purge Sequel into Development". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  9. ^ Ross, L.A. "Universal Sets The Purge Sequel for Just 8 Months From Now". TheWrap.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  10. ^ "Universal Re-Slots The Purge: Anarchy". Deadline.com. February 28, 2014. Archived from the original on July 5, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  11. ^ "The Purge 2 Promo Art". MovieWeb.com. January 1, 2014. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  12. ^ "That's a WRAP on #ThePurge2! Can't wait to share more with all of you very soon. Stay tuned!" Archived July 25, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. Twitter.com. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  13. ^ "The Purge: Anarchy DVD". dvdsreleasedates.com. Archived from the original on July 5, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  14. ^ The Purge: Anarchy 4K Blu-ray, archived from the original on April 24, 2018, retrieved May 4, 2018
  15. ^ "The Purge: Anarchy (2014) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on July 17, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  16. ^ Rebecca Ford (July 17, 2014). "Box-Office Previews: 'Purge,' 'Planes' Sequels Face Off Against 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  17. ^ Lang, Brent (July 18, 2014). "'Sex Tape' Attracts $1.1 Mil, 'Purge: Anarchy' Scares Up $2.6 Mil at Thursday Box Office". variety.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2014. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  18. ^ "James DeMonaco Movie Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  19. ^ "The Purge: Anarchy". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  20. ^ "The Purge: Anarchy". Metacritic. Archived from the original on March 5, 2014. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  21. ^ Breznican, Anthony (July 21, 2014). "Box office report: 'Apes' overtakes 'Purge: Anarchy'". CNN. Archived from the original on July 24, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2016.

External links[edit]

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