I almost didn't bother with this sequel . The first movie was close but no cigar down to rather lazy and ill thought plotting and since this movie was also written and directed by James DeMonaco we'd be getting more of the same except this time with an inferior and unknown cast . That said one thing that really intrigued me was the large shift in positive votes . The first movie had an average vote of 5.6 while its sequel had an average vote of 6.5 along with many of the comments stating just how different it was from the original film , a film which incidentally could hardly have been called original itself
The only real criticism I can level at TPA is that it's rather derivative and owes a lot to Anabasis by Xenophon , a very old story that Walter Hill made a career out of reworking and which recent Brit thriller '71 made use of . A good story never grows old whether you're a Greek army trapped behind enemy lines in 400 BC or a young couple trapped in a city centre where the laws of the jungle are about to be enforced the dilemmas facing the protagonists remain the same
I had to double check a couple of times to check if there were two different writer/directors called James DeMonaco because I had hard task to believe the film maker who wasted so much potential in the first movie was the same one who crafted this heart stopping thriller . Everything wrong with THE PURGE is corrected here . Gone are the idiotic choices characters make and in their place are simple acts of misfortunes . Okay some bits seem a little contrived such as cars breaking down at the most inopportune moment but it's the same sort of cinematic convention you see in every /any thriller or horror movie . The characters are unlucky rather than out and out dumb and boy does misfortune have it in for these characters that you actually get to care about
Another massive improvement is that you can almost believe this scenario might take place one day . I say almost because it's something of a stretch thinking Pat Robertson might be American president but this would be his ideal Utopian view of America and TPA does play up to all the more extreme elements of an outsiders view of America , gun culture , red necks ,the radical Christian right , rabid nationalism and corporate greed where money can buy you absolutely anything , all summed up by a very effective montage sequence at the closing credits . The politics of the film are not subtle but are superbly well done . There's perhaps a danger of taking it all this too seriously but TPA does deserve some credit for bringing this to our attention and wears its heart on its sleeve as to what's wrong at the heart of America
And so ends one of these very rare films - a sequel that surpasses the original and by a wide margin too . Okay let's be honest and confess THE PURGE was no great shakes but TPA is one the most effective and thought provoking thrillers I've seen Hollywood produce in a very long time and after seeing THE PURGE I thought I'd never say this but I am really looking forward to THE PURGE 3 when it's released next year
