The Purge: Anarchy 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: DeMonaco is more interested in scenarios than in stocking them with human beings. Everybody here is a backstory in a T-shirt. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: A plodding horror flick that mistakenly thinks it has big ideas. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: A small improvement over its predecessor. Read more

Guy Lodge, Variety: The central premise remains as patently absurd as ever in this noisy, self-serious sequel to James DeMonaco's surprise 2013 hit. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Delivers the classic genre thrill of watching archetypal strangers band together in order to get from Point A to Point B. Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: You'd expect the sequel to be an improvement based on production values alone, and you would be right, but not by much. Read more

Loren King, Boston Globe: The film wants to have it both ways: It mixes sanctimonious commentary about violence and socioeconomic claptrap with grand depictions of violent assaults and terror on cue. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: "The Purge: Anarchy" is more in line with what people going to a "Purge" movie would want out of a "Purge" movie. Read more

Joe McGovern, Entertainment Weekly: For most of the film, returning writer-director James DeMonaco favors gore and shock inserts of music over the edgy, nasty parody for which the material seems ready made. Read more

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter: The Purge: Anarchy efficiently exploits its high-concept premise while delivering far more visceral thrills than its predecessor. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: 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 more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: It's better-made than the first -- DeMonaco's writing and directing are much stronger -- and it also has the courage of its convictions. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "The Lottery" without the poetry, "Death Wish" without the Bronson, "The Return of the Archons" without the Archons, it's just nasty and brutish. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: The whiff of pulpy sci-fi isn't enough to hide what is basically ugly, nihilistic stuff meant to whip audiences into a vicarious blood lust. The story's lazy attempt at condemning man's darker impulses makes this one long, moral mess. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: [A] satisfyingly creepy, blunt, down-and-dirty thriller, one of those follow-ups that improves on the original. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: An equally effective, deliciously disturbing movie. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It is better than the first film in almost every way but that doesn't mean it's appreciably smarter or has appeal to those who like meat on their action-oriented bones. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Writer/director James DeMonaco combines potent action, sledgehammer political allegory and eerie paranoia in an entertaining B movie. Read more

Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "The Purge: Anarchy" is a dirtied-up breath of fresh air, an old-school exploitation movie that does what it sets out to do. Read more

Bruce Ingram, Chicago Sun-Times: Government-sanctioned mayhem continues unabated in the follow-up to last year's surprise hit The Purge, but the wickedly satiric sense of humor that made the original worth watching is nowhere to be found. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: It's the plotting, including a number of unexpected twists and turns throughout, that raises the film above the expected blood fest and for that, we must be grateful. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: While the film is rutted with plot holes, lapses in logic and tin-eared dialogue - the obvious is stated again and again - it falls squarely into a category that used to be called B movies. Read more

Michael Nordine, Village Voice: Grillo's performance will make you wonder why he didn't start headlining movies like this before turning 50; his is the soft-spoken kind of charisma that helped make half of the Expendables into stars back in the '80s and '90s. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: The Purge: Anarchy is basically a slasher movie in which society is the deranged killer. It plays like it's already a grindhouse classic - dark, dirty, and disreputable. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: "The Purge: Anarchy" obeys a cardinal law of Hollywood: Shoot first and ask questions later. Read more