The Purge Review

Movie: The Purge
By: Chev Chellios
Date: July 18, 2013

To Purge or not To Purge

Public announcement: In 2022, the United States is a nation reborn ruled by the "New Founding Fathers of America." To maintain low crime and unemployment rates throughout the year, the government has instituted an annual 12-hour period called "The Purge" during which all criminal activity (including murder, theft, rape, etc.) becomes legal. The only rules during The Purge are that "Level 10" government officials must remain unharmed and usage of weaponry above "Class 4" is forbidden. The Purge is designed to act as a catharsis for the American people, so that they may vent all negative emotions however they desire. And after reading this we all say Helllllll Yeahhhhhh, but did it deliver what it promised. Find out and read on.

The Beginning:

First time director James DeMonaco starts of with one hell of a premise. With a budget only merely 3 million, with actors like Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey on board things start to get interesting I thought. With a sequel already in the works, you should think this one is dammn fine. I think it's original in its own way but it could have been better.

The Story:

The story is centered on one family where Ethan Hawke plays the father James Sandin, Lena Headey plays mother Mary (couldn't they think of something better then that) and then we have the two children played by Adelaide Kane and Max Burkholder. James is a salesman, specialized in home security, and escpicallyu security devices and sorts for the Purge of course. This dude made a shit load of money on the purge, his own house is also equipped, and tonight it will be put to the test. When the purge is announced (they do that thru national tv and yes with a countdown indeed) James locks the house but when his son sees some poor homeless dude on the run, he is smart enough to let him in, and disables the security, you got to love kids these days. When the Purge crew comes looking for poor homeless Eddy, they give James two options 1) give up eddy and his family will not be harmed or 2) they make their way inside and kill all of them including Eddy. During the night questions emerge about civil society and moral dilemma's mwhahahahahhhaa. But in the end only one question remains, the security system, will it hold or will it fall we will see soon enough, because with the end credits rolling at the 85 minute mark this one is quickly.

Of course there are a few misses, but I think the director created a pretty decent atmosphere, but it wasn't good enough. They should have shown more from the outside world, what is really happening on the streets. Luckily when it came down to the killing it wasn't all PG13 stuff, and there are a few decent action scenes, and blood will run although it will be slow. But I understand why they chose to focus on one family, instead of the entire country, its all in the budget, but therefore I really liked the credits because there you get a news radio bulletin, where they talk about the aftermath: Quote: "Incoming reports show this year's Purge has been the most successful to date, with the most murders committed".

The Final verdict:

In the end, I have to admit I had a great time watching this one with a good friend. But on the second hand with a great actor like Ethan Hawke it should have been a lot better, it made me think about a movie called Daybreakers also staring Ethan Hawke, which was in my opinion also a hit or miss movie.