Review of The Purge (2013) by Paul C — 28 Mar 2014

There are films I hate for being incompetent, there are films I hate for being soulless and there are films I hate for being boring. And then there are films I hate for being decent, but ultimately disappointing. The Purge sits nicely into this section. Its a classic defend the house story, but with a set up that could have made countless better films from it than what is put on screen.

The Purge has a fairly inventive idea; what would you do if you could do anything you want for 12 hours without consequence? Personally I would like to blow off a few tonnes of fireworks while drinking poitin, but the possibilities are limitless when the conventional laws of society can be broken down so freely. Could this be a film about drug dealing done across the world? Could this be about a hired gun set during the 12 hours? Could this have a unique cyber element where hackers steal billions and get away with it? Could this have illegal elements combine for others entertainment in a scene reminiscent of Dead Rising 2's zombie slaying with motorcycles and chainsaws in a stadium?

So getting a standard home invasion horror/thriller seems very wasteful of the idea. Its been done before, and more importantly, its been done better without having to come up with such a bizarrely ingenious reason why noone will come for help.

The characters are equally as stock as the home invasion: You have Ethan Hawke as the wise father that accepts the purge, but has to find heart by the end. You have the kid with the morals, the rebel teen, her boyfriend with a digital timer ticking before he gets killed, the villains who wear masks to signal that they are evil and have no other character, the leader who seems charming but you know will kill to get results. You even have the homeless man the family let into their home, who has not many lines or personality and leaves once his role in the plot is fulfilled.

It has the whole 99/1% society aura in it, but it never leaves the rich peoples perspective throughout the 12 hours, and we lose all sense of the greater troubles that are likely happening in the world (the titles have a CCTV style intro with a lot of violence in the streets, but the viewer never gets to see that again).

There are also the usual jump scares, darkly lit rooms, more than one deus ex machina for the protagonists and a message hammered in throughout that the purge should not be accepted by the characters as normal, even with the benefits of a crime free remainder of the year.

The purge's idea greatly outweighs what ends up as your standard thriller plot, and it is not bad for what it is, but you cannot help but feel disappointed that it went for a very overused story, and a TV series from multiple perspectives could have served the premise better. The sequel has me hoping that the idea goes all the way next time.