The Purge - Film Review

As we near the Fourth of July, I thought it would be good to look back on the more patriotic works out there that really celebrate what America is all about. It's honestly been a while since I last saw this one, and I must admit that I've frequently wondered if the creators of this realized they had a multi-film franchise on their hands when they initially put this together. I feel as though I've had several conversations on the premise of this film and each time it's always an interesting thought experiment.

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Where You Can Find It: I viewed this one on Amazon Video where it is available for rent/purchase.

General Information 
The Purge is a dystopian horror film that was released on 7 June 2013. It was written and directed by James DeMonaco with notable figures, Jason Blum and Michael Bay, producing while distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the first entry in the Purge film franchise, which is expecting its fifth and final addition, The Forever Purge, at some point in July of 2021. I'm a little surprised that this series is officially getting concluded as it narratively has little to no continuity, while business-wise it has been a smashing success since the first installment. With a budget of only $3 million, The Purge grossed over $89 million during its worldwide release. Unfortunately, its success does not carry over so well to the critical reception side as it only has a 41 Metascore on Metacritic as well as a 39% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes. One final note is that there was briefly a TV series based on the franchise (also known as "The Purge"), which ran for two seasons from 2018 to 2020. The series ran on the USA Network and was officially cancelled in May 2020.

The Story

In a dystopian future of America, the US has virtually no crime or unemployment as a new political party, the New Founding Fathers, has instituted an annual event called "the Purge," which happens every 21 March. This event allows every American complete freedom for twelve hours (7pm to 7am) to commit any crimes they want without concern of being prosecuted by the law. In this society, James Sandin (played by Ethan Hawke), sells home security measures to protect the affluent upper class and is ready for a quiet evening in his fortified home however things don't go exactly as he planned. His son, Charlie (Max Burkholder), lets a homeless man (Edwin Hodge) into the house who is on the run from a group of wealthy elitists.

I think one of the things that consistently brings me back to this film (and its sequels) is the fascinating premise it provides. A world where citizens can do whatever they want for twelve hours, completely free of consequences. The implementation of this premise gets a fair bit of exploration as we see that people who we would normally trust can be even more dangerous than those we might avoid. Lovers, neighbors, and family members aren't to be trusted while even the tightest of alliances are shaky at best. Furthermore, there's a decent amount of social commentary to be had in regards to classism and even the marketization of concepts like security and shelter. Unfortunately, as much as I love this premise, it doesn't hold up under any kind of scrutiny as there are tons of problems with this idea when you think about it for more than two seconds.

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James is in for a long night

Despite the story's main selling point being a time period in which all crime is legal, this is essentially a home invasion story. There are plot holes galore in this and many of the characters are not particularly interesting. Despite being old enough to grasp what the Purge is, Charlie makes a series of mistakes through the story that make him largely more of a threat to the rest of the Sandins than the actual killers. During much of the film, we have no idea where anyone is in relation to each other and the Sandins seem to favor splitting up often, which makes it confusing to keep track of who is where. James is largely the only character with remotely any depth, while the homeless man doesn't even get a name and only a few lines of dialogue. James' wife, Mary (Lena Headey), is incredibly poorly developed as the only thing we know about her is that she wants some peace and quiet.

Special Effects/Atmosphere

Despite the small budget, I was thoroughly impressed with the overall presentation of this film. It's slick, and transitions between scenes work well too. I think costume design was probably one of the better aspects as there is a good deal on display throughout. Of course, the masks on the home invaders look great, but I also enjoyed the costume design of everyone else (with the exception of Adelade Kane's sexy schoolgirl outfit). Considering this film's themes hit heavily on class, it was interesting seeing how everyone dresses and how that style relates to their respective characters.

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Some unexpected guests have arrived at the Sandin household

One element of special effects that I was not fond of was Charlie's remote-control baby-tank. We see it relatively early in the film and it ends up playing a large role throughout the main plot. Although I'm not opposed to gizmos and gadgets, I felt that it was overly creepy to the point of where it made no sense as to why Charlie's parents would let him drive the thing around. There's certainly some households out there that I could imagine would let a kid get away with this, but I'm not necessarily sure it particularly works with the Sandin household's prim and proper style.

The Acting

With the exception of Rhys Wakefield (who plays the leader of the home invaders), I wasn't particularly impressed with anyone's acting. Rhys somehow managed to make his freaky mask look more reassuring than his actual face in this film and I think that's quite the accomplishment. It's a shame he didn't get much more to do in this, but I really enjoyed every scene he was in.

Lena Headey and Ethan Hawke do decent jobs with the material given to them, but there's no particular role that stands out with the exception of a scene that they both share while they're tying up a certain individual. I've seen both in far better stuff (this is Headey before Game of Thrones). Max Burkholder and Adelaide Kane are actively bad in their respective roles, however I won't lay too much blame on Burkholder's shoulders as he was a child during the film. Kane looks either bored or annoyed throughout the film, while Burkholder seems like he was supposed to be playing someone on the spectrum or potentially autistic, but it never comes off quite right or believable. I wish I could say more about Edwin Hodge, but he honestly has nothing to do in this film beyond running around and calling for help.

The Best of the Best: The paranoia-inducing plot premise where no one can be truly trusted.

The Worst of the Worst: The creepy baby-tank.

Calhooey Score: 6/10 - Above Average

Would I Recommend?

****

Make sure to lock your doors before viewing

Without its chaotic premise, The Purge is a subpar home invasion movie with lots of plot holes and bad acting. The concept of twelve hours where all crime is legal rescues what would be a boring film and sets it at a higher tier (arguably more than it deserves). With that being said, the premise isn't fully explored in this installment of the franchise. If the idea of the Purge interests you, I'd recommend watching the sequel, The Purge: Anarchy, instead as it has a bigger budget and can thus explore more. If you're looking for a good home invasion movie, try Don't Breathe or The Strangers.

-------------------------------------------------Spoiler Comments-----------------------------------------------------

• I swear I've seen Chris Mulkey in a ton of stuff, but can't quite place him. He plays Mr. Halverson. He always made me think that he's the poor man's Chris Cooper, but then that makes me wonder if Chris Cooper needs a poor man version...
• James must have been quite confident in his security system working since he decided to wait less than five minutes before the Purge started to set it up.
• If the Purge makes the US have low crime and zero unemployment, how does it still have homeless people? It looked like the homeless stranger Charlie let in had military dog tags too.
• James needs to seriously stop giving Charlie firearms. He handed the kid a magnum at one point, I think. The recoil alone would probably dislocate the poor kid's shoulder.
• I guess the metal barriers surrounding the Sandin home all come off at the same time when the invaders popped the front one off with chains.
• Can James get a refund from his own company?
• I guess it was nice for the homeless guy to save the rest of the Sandins, but I don't know why he did. Sure, they relented in feeding him to the invaders, but they also tortured him.
• Also, that duct tape they used seemed pretty useless.
• Do the Sandins get to keep the invaders' stuff that they left behind like the trucks and weapons? Technically the stuff is on their property and it's not like they need them anymore... 

----------------------------------------------------References--------------------------------------------------

*Amazon. (n.d.). The Purge film image. Retrieved from: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Purge-Ethan-Hawke/dp/B00FZR18JA.

**Meofans. (n.d.). James hiding gif. Retrieved from: https://gif.meofans.net/gif/WghQgw1D14UfK.

***Online Gaming Zone 2018. (n.d.). Purge masked invaders image. Blogger. Retrieved from: validshopping.blogspot.com/2018/07/heres-every-creepy-mask-from-purge-to.html.

****Moomoo. (n.d.). Invader smiling gif. WeHeartIt. Retrieved from: https://weheartit.com/entry/241442539.