Review: The Purge

At a Glance:

A film with some good ideas and quality acting let down by a confused theme, pacing issues, ridiculous plot twists and poor fights. I was expecting a bit more exploration of the overall theme, but sadly there wasn’t enough time what with all the unimaginative killing they had to fit in. I would recommend a view only because of it’s good points, which were top-notch, but only if you were going to the cinema anyway and there’s nothing else on, or if you can watch it for free a few years down the line.

Quality 5/10 (at some points 8/10, at far more points 4/10 so I settled on 5)
Entertainment 7/10

In Depth:

This film is set in a not very distant future where crime and unemployment rates are way down due to a government initiative called The Annual Purge, where for 12 hours all crime is legal and all emergency services are suspended, to allow it’s citizens to get rid of all their frustrations in one night. We follow the Sandin’s through this particular evening, who are fortunate enough to own a state of the art secure home due to the father, James (Ethan Hawke), working as a home security salesman. They plan to go into lockdown, with all windows and doors barricaded, and sit out the night watching the security cameras. That is until a bloodied homeless man (Edwin Hodge) wonders into their view outside shouting for help, and their teenage son Charlie lets him in against his parents wishes, with a gang of psychopathic preppies with machetes hot on his heels and determined to get to their target.

This film starts well, explaining the premise clearly and succinctly, without too much exposition. The family (which also includes mum Mary played by Lena Headey and teen daughter Zoey), seem realistic enough and the dialogue between them is well written and performed. Here is where most of the point the filmmakers are trying to make is discussed, with the rich white family safe behind their shutters debating the benefits of a system that they do not wish to participate in but are happy to support, primarily because they can close their eyes to it. Thankfully this is not shoved in our faces, but at this point you feel that it will be picked up further on in the film, which it barely does.

Unfortunately, once the stranger is let in, the film loses all pace, with the maniacs at the door cutting the electricity immediately and our stars forced to individually wander round their cavernous house with little torches, searching for their guest, who has rather wisely hid from them. The kids are a bit redundant in this film, with the daughter (Adelaide Kane) running off at any given opportunity for no reason, proving that she was only there to provide plot points and eye candy. Max Burkholder plays Charlie a little more likable and is given more to do, but you kind of feel slightly annoyed with him seeing as he’s the reason they are in this mess and most of his actions make it worse. Ethan Hawke does do a good job but he’s been made a bit too alpha and main protector, however this at least allows his actions to evolve gradually and believably. Lena Headey delivers what she needs to, but in these early scenes isn’t given much to do, but is outstanding as the film continues. The head mentalist himself (Rhys Wakefield) is superb in his first scene, unsettling and creepy, but sadly seems a bit cartoonish as it goes on, but then there’s only so many ways you can deliver your lines to a security camera or viewing window.

This film does pick up significantly when the family finally catch up with the stranger, and start to face some of the moral implications of their actions, and is a very well executed section of the film, but then someone remembers this is supposed to be a horror/thriller (it should have just been a thriller and we would have been spared the hideously forced scares with obligatory string music) and although this seems the kind of film with a point to make, it’s more a film that people are supposed to eat popcorn to. The ethics are abandoned so the husband can inexplicably turn into Rambo, with wobbly and whizzy camerawork that means you don’t see much detail. At least everyone else succumbs realistically to the intruders (sorry, did I spoil the fact they get in?), but sadly these seasoned purgers don’t seem very experienced seeing as they get someone on the ground and then hover over them with a huge knife for about three minutes, clearly signposting what is going to happen next.

Then we get to the final twist (though we do at least get there with some little unexpected twists along the way), which is so obvious from the beginning and utterly pathetic that you want to scream, but is luckily saved by a stellar performance from Lena Headey, who you pretty much can’t take your eyes off (and not just because it’s Cersei with black hair).

This film had the potential to be very very good, but was put into the wrong hands, who couldn’t make up their mind if it was a horror, a thriller or a statement about society so tried to do all three and with poor execution. It is buoyed by the strength of the acting and the dialogue when there is some, and some nice little touches, but is not enough to make it stand out.

The good:

Lena Headey
Some unexpected diversions from the norm (some things you see early in the film make you think it’s going to be incredibly significant and instead is used much more subtly)
Interesting idea

The bad: