"The Purge" is the first film in the wildly successful franchise.
In the (then) near future, a well-to-do family must lockdown in their home during a twelve hour period when all crime in the United States is legal and goes unpunished- a plot summary that opens up a whole can of unanswered questions. Ethan Hawke is the patriarch James, a seller of security systems that keeps all of his neighbors safe as well, but he must then Rambo up when the normally uneventful evening goes horribly wrong. The film is atrociously directed, featuring cheesy jump scares out of a contemporary (PG-13) horror film, and its smug "social commentary" never lands. Hearkening back forty years, this could have made for a classic film by Brian De Palma with a Paddy Chayefsky or William Goldman punched-up script. Where's the satire? Characterization? Where's the needling of social mores? Why didn't the family simply go on vacation out of the country?
What are you trying to be, "The Purge"? Instead, we get a hurried suspense flick that tries to get all its digs in, as if it was in a race to finish as fast as possible. Followed by sequels and a television series. (*) out of five stars.
-Rated R, contains strong physical violence, strong gun violence, violence involving children, gore, profanity, adult situations, alcohol and tobacco use
*Get a physical copy of "The Purge" on Amazon here*
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