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Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon
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Title: THE PURGE: ANARCHY
Director: James DeMonaco
Year: 2014
Reviewed: January 12, 2015
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Birthday Cake-Second Highest Rating |
[Rating Definitions]
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So here it is. My first review for the new year. Hopefully this years movies will be worthy of my not-so-infamous FOUR COURSE MEAL review. Who knows. But let's start with "The Purge: Anarchy".
I really want to like these films. I adore the concept. I think it's smart and thought provoking, and something, regardless of personal opinion, everyone in this country can contemplate. However, there is a painful lack of intelligence behind both the first and now the second film, and also a huge lack of realism, and quite simply gritty, realistic violence. Each film has left me wanting more. I want the violence to be naked and terrible, not shadowed and mild. I want the situations to be arduous and painful, not simple and easy. I want the stories to be smart and concise, not, unfortunately, stupid. "The Purge: Anarchy" lacks on three of the most important fronts: story, dialogue, and character. I do not care about two idiot white people with domestic problems going on a grocery run two hours before the purge. These two characters alone were like huge anchors bearing the film down to a serious level of mediocrity. Then there was the dialogue... holy shit was it bad. The writer had characters reacting to unidentified sounds with "what was that?", and "did you hear that?". Unable to cope with the horror occurring around them, one supposed mature adult went so far as to go limp (when any normal mammal would have gotten up and run), causing the only strong character to pick her up and literally carry her. So we have characters reacting in a way that no normal human, and or, animal would ever react; thereby ruining what could have been a fun, visceral, possibly even philosophical romp. By the time they were being auctioned off to be hunted by a bunch of cliche rich people I just didn't give a shit.
Oh! I nearly forgot, one of the main reasons the movie lacked violence was the moronic addition of computer squib gags, which look fucking horrible.
There was one characters arc I found interesting, and played remarkably well by Franc Grillo, but alas, this could not elevate the movie into anything but a BIRTHDAY CAKE review.
Finally, I say to writer/director James DeMonaco, you have a great idea here. Just please... please write a good, smart screenplay, because, as I stated before, I want to like this franchise.
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