The Purge: Anarchy
Universal Pictures | Release Date: July 18, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
13
Negative:
6
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The GuardianMike McCahillSep 22, 2014
The franchise is a low-risk work-in-progress, but DeMonaco is improving as a shotmaker. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernJul 19, 2014
When the situation is played totally straight, as it is for eighty percent of the running time, the message is boring: We'd all commit murder, theft and anarchy if only we could. With a narrative as depressively simplistic as that, we do find ourselves identifying with the characters in the movie—counting the minutes until the Purge is over. Read full review
50
TheWrapInkoo KangJul 18, 2014
Ultimately, “Anarchy” is too cartoonish in its politics to gain the allegorical resonance it clearly strives for — and worse yet, it's just no fun. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 18, 2014
Mainly, though, this is a humorless film that skimps on the delicious opportunity for spousal retribution. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 18, 2014
It's also breathtaking to watch a throwaway studio sequel break its corporate chains before your very eyes and become something thrilling and dangerous and alive. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJul 18, 2014
Isn't a cheap knock-off but an equally effective, deliciously disturbing movie. It's bound to delight genre fans (and dismay critics, who attacked the first as heavy-handed and sloppy). Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsJul 18, 2014
So weak on a basic storytelling level that it makes you want to nitpick everything about it, from characters' generically illogical decisions (ex: Why are you running towards mounted guns?) to its cheap-looking, jiggly hand-held cinematography. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichael NordineJul 18, 2014
It's better than the first. Read full review
75
Film.comJames RocchiJul 17, 2014
The Purge: Anarchy expands on its predecessor, but the excellent news is that the sequel isn’t just bigger and badder and bleaker; it’s also better, smarter, stranger and tougher. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleyJul 17, 2014
Soulless and idiotic and abysmally scripted as it is, Anarchy, like its predecessor, feels mournfully relevant. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramJul 17, 2014
In The Purge: Anarchy, unfortunately, grim and brutal is pretty much all we get. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 17, 2014
The result is an action-oriented survival tale, not unlike the kind of movie that Stallone or Schwarzenegger might have made back in the '80s. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJul 17, 2014
The Purge: Anarchy is a good deal bloodier, but also — gulp — a good deal better than its predecessor. Make no mistake, a good "Purge" does not equal a good movie, but the post-apocalyptic thriller is slightly more interesting because it takes itself, and its menace, more seriously. Read full review
50
HitfixDrew McWeenyJul 17, 2014
The Purge: Anarchy improves upon the original, but it's still a long way from being the sort of smart, savage satire it would have to be to fully exploit such a socially charged hook. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 17, 2014
Kill or be killed isn’t the official tag line of The Purge: Anarchy, but it fits. It would also make a more suitable title for this satisfyingly creepy, blunt, down-and-dirty thriller, one of those follow-ups that improves on the original. Read full review
25
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 17, 2014
The film defies one of the fundamental rules of capitalism: Exploitation of the proletariat may be well and good, but don’t execute them all. At the same time, “The Purge: Anarchy” obeys a cardinal law of Hollywood: Shoot first and ask questions later. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoJul 17, 2014
The new film pokes heavyhanded fun at extreme conservatives and has a "power to the people" sub-theme, but it's full of ultra-violence and is dragged down by standard scare tactics, thin characters and the absurdities of the premise.
50
Boston GlobeLoren KingJul 17, 2014
Give credit to writer-director James DeMonaco for at least attempting to give his action thriller some heft with a plot that concerns our obsession with violence, ham-fisted as it is. But The Purge: Anarchy is still just an excuse to bombard us with high-powered weaponry, armored vehicles, vigilantes, and masked marauders in creepy Joker-like makeup. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 17, 2014
The film is at its best when it focuses on the more specific conflicts of five people thrown together on Purge night. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelJul 17, 2014
You'd expect the sequel to be an improvement based on production values alone, and you would be right, but not by much. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchKevin C. JohnsonJul 17, 2014
Like the first movie The Purge: Anarchy, is trash masking as social commentary, and its depiction of unrelenting, sanctioned violence can be hard to stomach. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckJul 17, 2014
The Purge: Anarchy efficiently exploits its high-concept premise while delivering far more visceral thrills than its predecessor. Read full review
40
VarietyGuy LodgeJul 17, 2014
For all the philosophical and metaphorical shortcomings of his script, however, DeMonaco is an efficient orchestrator of action. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithJul 17, 2014
I’ve read ingredients labels that were scarier than The Purge: Anarchy, a plodding horror flick that mistakenly thinks it has big ideas. Read full review
33
The PlaylistGabe ToroJul 17, 2014
This one veers further from actual horror into an action picture. “The Purge” tries to unsettle. The Purge: Anarchy wants you to cheer. Read full review
38
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJul 17, 2014
It’s preachier, more diverse in its casting. All of which make it more specific and limit it. Throw in generally lackluster performances and illogical plot twists and “Anarchy” is seriously crippled. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanJul 17, 2014
The film’s “What if?” scenario takes the germ of an interesting social-science idea and lets it rot in a nasty, ethically questionable cesspool of junk cinema. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleWilliam GossJul 16, 2014
The story has a welcome sense of continuous momentum, and what’s more, DeMonaco has a better handle on both his skewering of the entitled upper class (not as pointed as Paul Verhoeven’s ultraviolent satire, but a start) and the righteous anger of the targeted lower class (personified by Michael K. Williams’ resistance leader, Carmelo). Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJul 16, 2014
Retains the original’s premise and politics, but actually puts them to use. Read full review
50
The DissolveAndrew LapinJul 16, 2014
It needs to be emphasized again for the record that The Purge: Anarchy is a tremendously stupid film... But there’s an almost-camp quality to how DeMonaco takes this stupidity to greater heights, building a complex mythology around the plot like a giant moat around a pillow fort. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnJul 16, 2014
The movie's potential blossoms whenever it toys with the allegorical ingredients head-on. DeMonaco's script plays like a devious Brothers Grimm tale told through the filter of Occupy Wall Street. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJul 16, 2014
DeMonaco may doubly, sometimes triply, underline the story's governing theme of social power and how it's exchanged, but the rage and lucidity of these ideas resonate. Read full review
More From This Movie

50 Critic Reviews

6.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL