Starring Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford
Directed by James DeMonaco
Despite all of its intended social commentary, James DeMonaco's follow-up to last year's surprise hit fails to provoke much critical thought. Leisurely mind-wandering is more likely, inspiring such thoughts as, “If I'm a hospital employee in this speculative future, I'm definitely booking March 22 off work.”
After all, March 21 is the titular blood rite of spring in which all crime is legalized for a 12-hour period.
From the evidence here, the ensuing “anarchy” largely amounts to a few packs of heavily-armed thugs roaming the streets looking to perforate anyone who crosses their path. (It could be that there are also more restrained miscreants committing tax fraud behind closed doors)
Narrative contrivances also ensure that a few milquetoasts (including vaguely familiar faces like Carmen Ejogo and Zach Gilford) are flushed out into the open. Thank goodness there's a glowering, gun-toting guardian angel (Frank Grillo, monosyllabic yet charismatic) on hand to even the odds.
Perhaps recognizing that the home invasion in the first Purge failed to manufacture much claustrophobic terror, DeMonaco attempts to transition the franchise from horror to more conventional action fare. However, his evident ambitions of mounting an Escape from New York for the Tea Party era are undone by ham-fisted direction that results in plodding violence rather than pulse-quickening action.
Without any visceral thrills to distract us from the shoddy scripting, it's hard to ignore the fact that the film's climax hinges on a subplot that DeMonaco has ignored for over an hour.
Given its “release the beast” mantra, you wouldn't expect The Purge to be so damn toothless.
