Review of The First Purge (2018) by Thequietgamer — 03 Nov 2018

Gerard McMurray makes his mark on The Purge franchise. The thing that's kept me coming back to these movies has been their ability to get crazier with each successive entry and this is easily the most insane so far. A new hyper-stylish approach has been taken to the visuals. The smoky streets with their ethereal glow and flashy block parties make it feel like a haunted house. The mask design is more creative and memorable than ever. As weird as it is to see what is chronologically the opening chapter adding sci-fi elements to the mix, those glowing-eyed contact lenses are a nice touch. It relishes in capturing the B-movie shlock with grindhouse-esque camera angles.

The politics of the series have always been questionable. Doing more to promote racism with it's highly segregated casting than not. This prequel might easily be the worst offender. No longer hiding behind the thin veneer of satire established by DeMonaco with the previous three films, McMurray is flat-out unsubtle with the symbolism that feels less timely, and more like fearmongering. The message is at odds with the actual content so even if it were the right time, this would never be the right movie.

It's hard to care about any of the characters as they're all a bunch of bland stereotypes. This is also the second dumbest Purge just after the original. The premise is that government is trying this event for the first time as an experiment and offering compensation to people if they'll stay on the island while it's happening with the promise of more money should they choose to participate further (i.e. actually commit crimes such as murder). When the time finally arrives they're surprised to find that no one is really doing anything. Gee, maybe it's because you guaranteed them a life-changing sum of money for just sucking air the night of the Purge. Given that all of this was the brainchild of a supposed social psychologist, you think they would have known going into it that when people realize they'll get paid for doing the bare minimum, that's all most of them are going to do. Especially in a situation where doing more would compromise their morals. That's like psychology 101.

Anyone will tell you though that the appeal of this series has never been it's story or characters, but the carnage. So it's a good thing this is one gloriously euphoric bloodbath. Y'lan Noel goes all Rambo in a low-rent apartment complex and a lot of throats are slit. With funny one-liners and tons of bloody action you can come into this expecting the usual entertaining madness. Just know that the subtext is more tone-deaf than ever.