Action

THE PURGE: ANARCHY (2014)

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Like an eighties B movie this film posits some interesting ideas much like the first film but it would have worked better as a graphic novel rather than a film. The characters feel like they are straight out of a comic book and somehow the imagined translation onto film loses power.

It is entertaining in an eighties style with a modern slant.

The plot is simple enough, one day a year, all crime, including murder is legal. A way for the government to allow the population to purge their dark urges, so the crime rate throughout the rest of the year is kept at a minimum. James De Monaco directs the second part in this series coming off the back of the first and IMDB tells us that he is busy directing the 3rd one at the moment.

A couple, Shane and Liz, played by Zach Gilford and Kiele Sanchez break down on their way home, merely hours before the Purge begins.
A lone man, Sergeant, Frank Grillo (Captain America-The Winter Soldier), fills his car with guns and weapons and heads out into the night. Two sisters, Eva and Cali Sanchez, Carmen Ejogo and Zoe Soul head out into the night to try and find their father, who has ‘sold’ himself as a victim in order to provide for his daughters.

These are our protagonists and their job is to stay alive during this dangerous, deadly time.

If you’re a fan of great thrillers of the eighties, Escape From New York, The Warriors, Assault on Precinct 13, etc, you will enjoy this. It draws inspiration from a lot of these films and does it reasonably well. It is probably equally as good as The Purge and while neither of them are what anyone would call a classic, there is enough in each of them to keep the audience entertained.

The idea is prescient in this day and age, holding a mirror up to society in a sci-fi stylee.

If you’re in the mood for a thriller that requires little brain-work this is for you.

It does, however, ask questions about the state of the nation and dissatisfaction of the people who live there. It is far from mindless and is a definite step up from the usual studio fare.

Violent and suspenseful, for those who like their thrillers a little bit twisted.

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3/5

A HARD DAY-Kkeut-kka-ji-gan-da (2014)

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The South Koreans do it again, schooling Hollywood how, or really reminding them how to make a brilliant crime film filled with all the right elements to create suspense and excitement. Move aside Neesons, Willys, Stats, Arnies and Slys, this film will satisfy you in ways they can’t even dream of nowadays.

The literal translation of the title of this brilliant South Korean action thriller is “Take it to the End” which may have been a more fitting English name as events of a day lead on into the following days.

Detective Go Geon-soo played with absolute conviction by Lee Sun Gyun is being tested to the max by life and his choices; the chickens’ coming home to roost, all in a very short period.

His mother has just died and his police squad is being investigated by Internal Affairs for corruption, on his way to the funeral he commits a fatal hit and run and then tries to cover it up. To say anymore would be unfair to the uninformed and lessen the enjoyment that this superb thriller has to offer. The Hollywood execs could do with taking many, many notes from the way this thriller is put together.

The edge of your seat suspense doesn’t really stop until it has been ‘taken to the end’. It is reminiscent of the way Breaking Bad took you on a roller-coaster and never let you off half way. The twists and turns of the ride were never how you thought it was going to be and constantly surprised.

This is Kim Seong-hun’s second film as a director and it really feels as accomplished as though it were in the hands of a seasoned veteran like a Michael Mann, it also brings to mind the excellent Hong Kong cop thriller ‘Infernal Affairs’ that was remade by Scorsese into the inferior ‘The Departed’. No big shoot-outs here though, just turn up the heat and let it boil.

The acting is 100% believable with nary an actor out of place. This is what separates this from its Hollywood studio counter-players. No actor is weak, the script is taut, the direction fluid and the editing and soundtrack spot on. There are so many thrillers coming out of America and not one, of late, comes close to building the tensionthe way it is done here.

Cho Jin-Woong plays the nemesis to Detective Go Geon-soo and does so with a menace and relish rarely seen on the big screen. It is only his second film and we’ll definitely be seeing more of this talented actor in the future.

Sure, we have seen many of these plot devices before but we will suspend disbelief if we are being entertained and this certainly delivers in that department.

Move along Hollywood, South Korea has arrived.

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DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE

4/5