The Purge: Anarchy

The idea behind The Purge provided one thought in my head prior to seeing the sequel, Anarchy, and that was ‘the freaks come out at night’. In particular, “the beast” is unleashed on those unlucky enough to be caught on the streets or pulled from their homes, and we see a gaggle here and there of “those that cleanse themselves through the purge” equipped with flame-flowers, automatic weapons, shotguns, Gatling guns, machetes, sniper rifles, pistols, bats, knives of all kinds, etc. Those that use this night to release pent-up aggression building over the year take full advantage of the night that allows them to kill, hurt, and maim to their hearts content. And there are many faces, not just the expected gangbangers and usual suspects who look the part, that partake in what the purge entails. Pure white America--in the form of the pearly-whites, with their well-dressed, wealthy, well-manicured, all smiling, seemingly normal nouveau riche lifestyle, considered the decent and wholesome image those in society should strive towards and emulate--is depicted as being just as evil, sadistic, and corrupt as those street thugs in masks and bandanas, covered in tattoos and rotted teeth. The difference is that those affluent and rich have the thugs go out and bring them prey (or, in the case of a dying man giving up his life for his daughter and granddaughter dealing with financial dire straits). I thought about Carpenter’s Escape from New York as the small group of unfortunates find themselves following behind a rugged, tortured soul who just so happens to have fighting skills and knowledge in how to shoot and protect. To survive in the city (LA) of Anarchy there was no way a waitress, her daughter, and an estranged married couple could have been able to do this on their own so conveniently they encounter Frank Grillo’s grizzled and woebegone sergeant, Leo Barnes. Leo is motivated by the death of his son thanks to a drunk suburbanite so he will use the night of The Purge to exact his revenge. It just so happens that he meets the kind of people that would work away at his conscience and humanity, knowing he’s a good man with exemplary qualities that might purge the hate and bitter rage bubbling underneath. Anarchy, to me, could be used to describe heroism as the point of the Night of the Purge is to kill not save lives. Leo is out on the streets protecting people from the very ones using this night to hunt down human victims to eviscerate. I had expected this film to be quite brutal, but the filmmakers decide to briefly show glimpses of killers picking off the innocent unluckily caught out in the streets unprotected by boarded windows and bolted doors. A cut fuel line leaves the married couple (on the verge of separation) on the streets thanks to masked creeps driving a white van and on motorcycles (think, The Strangers but chasing folks in LA alleys and around street corners). A crazed neighbor who is filthy and sleazy often flirts with the film’s heroine, the struggling waitress, trying to make ends meet, played by Carmen EJogo. He plans to really torment and destroy Ejogo and her tough daughter (quite wise and understanding of human frailty) played by Zoë Soul but “Big Daddy” and his mercenaries (dressed in Black Ops gear) want them for his own purge through the execution of his Gatling gun. So the film provides us a group to worry about and feel concern for. Still, because Leo leads them, there is a sense that their lives are a bit more secure as long as he is in charge of guiding them. Leo is that reluctant sort of hero who would prefer to purge but that moral sense of defense, protect, and serve cannot be denied. He understands the rules of the purge, seems to know how each type of killer will behave, and has worked the streets enough to move about in a calculated, cautious, knowing capacity. Without him, those following behind couldn’t stand much of a chance. So the film starts with the foreknowledge that the time for the purge was drawing near, fear of getting to safety is made aware to us in the faces and conversation of the innocents, and allows us to realize that a black militia (the good guys who disagree with the purge and plan to bring down this crooked political system that is simply an excuse to deplete the poverty level and remove the downtrodden to a certain degree) is on the verge of challenging the law that has provided monsters permission to attack and pursue psychopathically. The anti-wealth, anti-capitalist sentiment is apparent if just in one scene where a stockbroker is found hanging with a sign that speaks about what his greed and avarice did to people who trusted him. The All American family praying after a prepared meal they eat, grabbing their machetes with plans to butcher a “martyr” in their mansion on the hill. Watching as our heroes are gathered up, driven to a place where suited henchmen with machine guns carry them to a stage that reveals an audience of the most richest in the city, auctioning from each table to participate in “the hunt” which allows them to choose their artillery, with night goggles and prey unarmed and vulnerable. 

So seeing how Leo dismantles them and escapes alive with some of his group thanks to the militia (who conveniently show up when it seems all hope is lost and an army of gun-toting goons paid by the wealthy behind this hunt seem on the verge of killing them) is all part of why I kept returning to Escape from New York. This series of survival adventures in a city as violent thugs come from all angles and could be around any corner in the future. Good actors help keep the characters easy to emphasize with and the killers are primarily presented as hostile, cold-blooded, and existing as cretins for Leo to put down. The absurdities of human nature, when the darkside of specific people are allowed to go free in the cruelest ways imaginable, is purposely presented as satire and black comedy (like a rotund woman at the top of a roof of a building in the city with a bullhorn considering herself justified in using the machine gun to purge). Those who purge just don’t attack those that don’t purge but also turn on each other such as when Big Daddy uses his gun to blow away a couple with shotguns not expecting him in this large semi. So, yeah, Escape from New York was a film I often compared to this fast-moving, always-exciting, and sometimes-unpredictable action thriller. Unlike the first film, this sequel isn’t as claustrophobic and gives us a whole city of miscreants who could show up from the woodwork and offer terror and peril to the heroes. A sleeper surprise to me. This was fun.