The Purged: Frank Grillo (Sergeant); Carmen Ejogo (Eva); Zach Gilford (Shane); Kiele Sanchez (Liz); Zoë Soul (Cali)
The Gist: It’s time again for the annual purge and this time around we get the view from the street as a group of people try to make it through the night. Eva and Cali are mother and daughter and literally dragged into the street by armed and masked commandos. Shane and Liz are a well to do couple whose car is sabotaged and are forced to fight for their lives. Rounding out the group is Sergeant, a man using the purge to get revenge for his son’s murder.
I wasn’t a huge fan of The Purge and like a lot of people I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch this follow-up but I was surprised that I liked it. It certainly isn’t a great movie but it delivered more of the violence and danger that was missing from The Purge. The characters were fine but really there was no need to develop to them as this was movie about death and survival and getting deep into their stories wasn’t necessary. We did get each of their backgrounds but it was presented quickly so as not to detract from their current circumstances. One of the prominent images that I have seen for advertising this flick is the one below however, this group of murdering marauders, weren’t really in it much. The concept of these movies is disturbing yet interesting as normal people shed their morality and became deadly adversaries to anyone unlucky enough to not be able to barricade themselves in their homes.
Final Thoughts: I liked this flick. It wasn’t anything spectacular but it delivered where The Purge failed: to give us the future where all rules of morality are thrown out the window for one night and murder and causing human suffering is revered. A movie where you don’t need to think just be entertained and horrified.