"The Purge: Anarchy" (2014)

When I first watched "The Purge" (2013), being the big John Carpenter fan that I am, I couldn't help but draw comparisons to his 1976 thriller, "Assault on Precinct 13", as both films centered on a group of people under siege by a bloodthirsty gang trying to get to someone in their custody (and considering that writer/director James DeMonaco also wrote the screenplay for the remake of "Assault on Precinct 13", I'm sure that was no accident). Now, with "The Purge: Anarchy" (2014), it seems as if DeMonaco is borrowing heavily from another Carpenter classic, "Escape From New York" (1981). Much like "Escape's" Snake Plissken, here you've got an apathetic loner (played by Frank Grillo), who is an ex-soldier trying to navigate through a city where there is no law, while being accompanied by a small group of people trying to survive. You've got everything from crazies on the streets to faceless government forces. Even the way the film moves from set piece to set piece was very reminiscent of the pacing of "Escape From New York". For that reason I found myself really enjoying the film, and for the first two thirds it works extremely well. The final act though does fall into a very predictable pattern, but not enough to spoil the overall film. I would say it's a much better movie than it's predecessor and despite the fact that I am a huge horror fan, I like that DeMonaco decided to focus more on the action elements this time out, instead of just merely repeating the first film all over again.  8 out of 10 for me.