Film: The Purge: Anarchy

Film again tonight, and I FINALLY get to The Purge: Anarchy. It started rated highly enough on IMDB, but slipped to a point where I never thought I'd get to see it - but then, with a dearth of good releases, combined with a spate of films being made available online at various sites (predictably, cheaper there than you'd pay in the cinema), behold and lo, The Purge: Anarchy came to the top of my list at last.

It's showing at my local cinema, but not until 10pm, for goodness' sake! The closest cinema showing it at a reasonable time is the Vue, Shepherds Bush. So I schlepped up there. Overground again, no seat again - but I was only going two stops this time. And there was more oxygen in the coach, this late in the evening. You know, it occurred to me later - I don't think I've been to this cinema since I moved accommodation last, the better part of a year ago!

Anyway, they accepted the voucher I'd got at their other branch, but didn't give me a replacement. Never mind, I still have one to spare. With the voucher, tonight I paid a little over half what I paid the last time I was at the cinema! but that was extreme. I made sure to choose my favourite seat tonight - aisle, with the aisle in front of me as well. Just as well I did - it was quite crowded. Despite having been showing for some time now, this is still pulling them in (although there is also a 2-for-1 deal on Wednesdays). I did get a bit miffed though, at the sheer number of people traipsing in and out and blocking my view. Thankfully, they didn't do so far past the start of the film.

I think the gaggle of underage kids that snuck in just after the start enjoyed it. They had a bonus of several horror film trailers before the main feature. I see there's a prequel to The Conjuring, called Annabelle (named, of course, for the possessed doll). Also Deliver Us From Evil, and one I haven't heard of, called As Above, So Below, and set in the catacombs of Paris.

And so to the main feature. Well now, this was a pleasant surprise. I didn't see the original Purge film - it wasn't rated very highly - but knew the story: "The Purge" is an annual - well, in this film it's called a holiday - 24 hours (7am to 7pm) during which all crime is legalised. American, wouldn't ya know. As The Purge: Anarchy begins, we are treated to some statistics. Crime and unemployment are at an all-time low. This is due to The Purge. The message is broadcast loud and clear: get off the streets before nightfall. Stay safe. Unless you're purging - in which case, we hope you feel cleansed.

Now, the first thing that occurred to me upon reading those statistics was - of course the Purge is responsible for the excellent figures, they just kill all the criminals and unemployed. The homeless are obvious targets too. Guess what - I wasn't disappointed in my opinion. That's exactly what the filmmakers rammed home to us also. Ooh, the rich come in for some stick in this series. They can pay for protection - the poor can't, and they're the ones who concern us in this film.

I see Michael Bay is a co-producer. Now, there's a man that knows how to produce an entertaining film. Unlike the first film, which concerned a home invasion, this takes us onto the mean streets, where anything can, and does, happen. What happens, for instance, if your car breaks down on Purge night, miles from anywhere safe? The pace hardly flags. The scenarios are terrifyingly believable. The gang chasing the pair whose car breaks down are nightmarish, and many of the scenes are unashamedly populist. The finale is pure crowd-pleasing rich-bashing.

And it's great fun. But the series is also a thinly disguised rebuke of the NRA, and a comment on its adherents, and on America's gun culture in general. And there'll be more - an anti-Purge movement appears in this film, and at the end, a notice reminds us that there are 364 days to the next Purge. This could run and run - and if they can keep up the quality, more power to them!

And tomorrow, something completely different. I'm heading to the BFI, to a film in their Century of Chinese Cinema: Women From the Lake of Scented Souls. Then Ireland for the weekend, Liechtenstein for next week. And if I ever get around to doing any German in the meantime, I'll be lucky!