Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The Purge: Anarchy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 8, 2014

James DeMonaco's The Purge (2013) came out of nowhere, nabbed a pretty penny at the box office, and had a sequel green-lit before anyone knew what hit 'em. But while it amounted to a semi-decent home invasion thriller, the original film struggled with too narrow a focus, presenting a single terrorized homestead in the middle of a briefly glimpsed but presumably sprawling, far more intriguing American dystopia. DeMonaco's sequel, The Purge: Anarchy, is a stronger, more rewarding film, yet it too struggles. Not by way of a narrow focus, but one that's too broad. Don't misunderstand. Seeing more of the director's not-so-distant-futurescape is a very, very good thing, and promises further sequels that will more than likely push the franchise well beyond a mere trilogy. The problem is that Anarchy's characters, good or evil (there's little room in between), feel ripped out of a run of the mill comicbook; chunky dialogue, clunky decisions and all. It works for Captain America: The Winter Soldier's Frank Grillo (who flexes his inner-Punisher so effectively and effortlessly it suggests Marvel made a mistake casting him as Hydra-henchie Crossbones when he would have been a killer Frank Castle, capable of helming his own Punisher reboot). It doesn't work out for everyone else, though. One-note, two-dimensional sinners and saints collide in a war of cinematic attrition. Bullets fly, blood spills, and bodies pile up in a hyper-satirical clash of the classes: the sadistic, homicidal 1% vs. anyone who can't afford a fortified bunker and a truck-mounted minigun.

The New Founders of America invite you to celebrate your annual right to Purge. The sequel takes it to the streets for the country's yearly 12 hours of anarchy, when all crime is legal. This new story follows an unlikely group of five strangers over the course of the night: waitress Eva Sanchez (Carmen Ejogo), her sister Cali (Zoë Soul), stranded couple Shane and Liz (Zach Gilford and Kiele Sanchez), and mysterious man on a mission, Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo). As they fight to survive a night fraught with impossible decisions, these strangers find out just how far they will go to protect themselves and, ultimately, each other.

Anarchy inches, crawls and creeps toward the start of the annual Purge with faux-Hitchcockian swagger, checking in on the personal lives' of our soon-to-be group of five before suddenly and unabashedly diving headlong into a nation that's lost its mind. Hints of Mad Max indicate a society on the verge of collapse, but the distressingly orderly manner in which the night's business is conducted points to a frightening stability. The film finds its power in this contrast, and when it sticks to the strange disconnect between those who reject the Purge and those who revel in it, Anarchy almost, almost speaks to the underlying socioeconomic issues of the United States as we know it. Unfortunately, the moment it opens its mouth and begins presenting its message, it comes undone. The sequel is an at-times exhausting exercise in social commentary 101, with the rich salivating over the torture and murder of the poor, roving bands of young inner-city head hunters commissioned by wealthy sophisticates, and a twisted theater where blue collar workers are hacked to pieces for entertainment. DeMonaco lays it on and lays it on thick, then slathers on another layer for good measure.

Ignore what Anarchy is so desperately trying to be, though, and you'll have a much better time. The sequel is certainly ambitious, and hit or miss as it sometimes is, it refuses to relent, plunging ahead without ever looking over its shoulder. Never mind the plot holes. Never mind the stunning convenience of the second-act apartment shootout. Never mind the magic GPS-like tracking skills of a van full of masked street thugs. Never mind the night-vision sunglasses lifted from Back to the Future II. Never mind the poorly conceived rebellion subplot, or the distraction that comes upon realizing Omar Little... ahem, Michael K. Williams is leading the charge. Never mind how we still don't really know that much about the world of The Purge, the Founding Fathers, or the history and science that birthed a night of murder and rape. As a survival actioner, Anarchy serves up enough mindless entertainment and enough Grillo scene-stealing to make it worth renting.

The Purge: Anarchy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Night falls early in Anarchy and the sun doesn't rise until the last fifteen minutes. As such, Universal's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation is dark and coated in thick, atmospheric shadow. That doesn't stop the transfer from exceling, though. Oranges, teals and blues make their presence known in the darkness, skintones are nicely saturated, black levels are deep and satisfying, and contrast is consistent. Detail is excellent as well, with crisp edge definition and rather revealing textures. Softness invades as frequently as noise and crush, but each instance is a product of the film's photography, nothing more. Artifacting, banding, aliasing and other issues are either kept to a bare minimum or nowhere to be found, and the entire encode holds its own from start to finish. Anarchy isn't the most striking dystopian nightmare, but its high definition presentation will surprise those going in with low to modest expectations.

The Purge: Anarchy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track doesn't disappoint. Explosions, gunfire and general unruliness -- let's just call it... Anarchy -- are given free reign of the place, with weighty and aggressive LFE output, enveloping and exacting rear speaker activity, and impressive dynamics. Dialogue is clear and intelligible at all times too, even amidst the chaos, and only a handful of inconsequential lines are drowned out by shotguns, AKs, miniguns and other tools of the Purger trade. Prioritization is spot on, directionality is accurate, and the film's soundfield is quite immersive, without anything in the way of mishaps that might yank an absorbed viewer out of the experience.

The Purge: Anarchy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Purge: Anarchy doesn't pack much supplemental heat. "Behind the Anarchy" (HD, 9 minutes) is a short, paint-by-numbers behind-the-scenes featurette that only brushes the surface, while a small collection of "Deleted Scenes" (HD, 8 minutes) fails to add any significant value to the package.

The Purge: Anarchy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Anarchy is a better film than its predecessor, but most of the credit goes to Frank Grillo. Had the sequel focused on Barnes rather than a five-actor ensemble, Anarchy would have been a stronger, sleeker successor that expanded DeMonaco's world and made it a more compelling place to explore. Universal's Blu-ray release is more remarkable thanks to a terrific video presentation and immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. There aren't any substantial extras unfortunately, but that's how it goes. I'd recommend renting before buying, although those who enjoyed the first film will most likely dig the sequel even more.