The Purge: Anarchy Posters Spell Out The Danger
This article is more than 2 years old
The Purge: Anarchy looks to be that rarest of animals, the sequel that is actually better than its predecessor. Despite the fact that it took just a hair over a year to get approval, knock out a script, shoot the sucker, and get it all into movie theaters worldwide, the closer we get to the July 18 release, the better this looks. And since we’re only a day over two weeks away, that hype machine is churning at full speed, knocking out trailers, TV spots, clips, and posters, posters, posters, including this new collection of six one-sheets and a banner.
Set in a near future where the New Founding Fathers of America have set aside one night a year, twelve solid hours, where all crime is legal—this collective explosion of all of our most base urges supposedly drives the crime rate down to near zero—The Purge presented a rather limited view of this dystopian world. While that film was framed as what is essentially a home invasion story, Anarchy opens up the view, offering a trio of intertwining narrative threads that all take place on the same night as the first chapter.
If you line them up next to each other, you probably noticed that the first five of these posters spell out the word “Purge,” with each letter superimposed over one of those creepy masked faces we’ve seen so much of in the various footage that has hit the proverbial airwaves.
Anarchy definitely has an aesthetic that calls to mind the gritty revenge flicks from the late 1970s and early 1980s. During this particular Purge, Leo (Frank Grillo) heads out into the madness, looking for a little bit of government-sanctioned payback. He’s prepared for what he’ll encounter out there, heavily armed, driving an armor-plated battlewagon. His path, however, intersects with other people, less able to survive the night, like Shane (Zach Gilford) and Liz (Kiele Sanchez), a couple whose car breaks down on the way out of the city, and Eva (Carmen Ejogo) and Cali (Zoe Soul), two women who can’t afford to protect themselves as well as the rich folks. We’ll see how, or if, this economic disparity comes into play, though it certainly fills a prominent role in much of the promotion.
Considering the red, white, and blue motif that many of the posters, including this “United We Purge” addition to the collection, it’s a little bit surprising that Blumhouse Productions didn’t opt to release the film this weekend. Coinciding with the holiday would certainly have stirred up some controversy for their low-budget actioner that looks like a cross between Judgment Night and The Running Man, and maybe sold a few more tickets.
This small banner features some of the firepower that we’ll see on display in the film, and just seeing this sort of heavy weaponry has to bring a smile to your face, especially when manned by Jack Conley.
