"The Purge" Review

Written and Directed by James DeMonaco

Rated R for strong disturbing violence and some language

Release Date: June 7^th, 2013

Review By: Sean Kayden

“The Purge” on paper has a very intriguing premise. The year is 2022, unemployment is at 1%, and the crime rate is at an all time low. The film proposes this wild notion that our “New Founding Fathers” initiated a law that states that for one night out of the year anyone can commit any feasible crime without punishment. The reasoning behind the purge is that we as human beings are in fact violent and vicious. Therefore, we need to purify ourselves. To purge is to cleanse the soul for those with pent up anger, hatred, and rage. In the 85 minute running time, writer/director James DeMonaco wastes his interesting concept with a lack of thrills, chills, and any real social commentary to put on display. “The Purge” could have been one scary, thought-provoking human story masked behind an R-rated horror film yet everything that seemed promised in the trailers was not kept.

Ethan Hawke stars as James Sandin, a high level employee who sells home security systems to wealthy people in his suburban paradise. Those who buy it ultimately are able to turn their luxurious homes into fortified castles. The Sandins consists of James, his wife Mary (Lena Headey), and their two kids, Zoey and Charlie. Zoey is a typical 17-year-old girl. She shows bitterness toward her father, who doesn’t approve of her older boyfriend. Charlie is an intelligent, misfit pre-teen who doesn’t know how to occupy his time effectively. Leading up to the purge, we hear news broadcasts throughout the house expressing what is allowed during the event. They also have a brief yet humorous transmit about which weapons can and can’t be used. There’s also a small segment about how the purge may be helping the economy and rapidly lowering crime rate. However, analysts insist that perhaps these stellar results come at the cost of attacking those who are at poverty stricken, homeless, and infirm levels. DeMonaco doesn’t really expand too much on this in his underdeveloped script. He’s more focused on having his film be this small, contained thriller than allowing it to develop into something much greater as it desperately should have been.

When the purge starts at 7pm, Charlie inquires why his parents don’t go out and kill someone on this night. They simply tell him they have no urge to do so. As the they settle in for the night for another annual purge, Charlie witnesses a man in trouble outside his home via their outside camera security. The African-American man outside is begging for someone to help him and to no surprise not a single person is willing to open his or her home for him. Believing the right thing to do is to aid the man who’s in trouble, Charlie takes it upon himself to disarm his house’s security system to allow for the man to come in side. This is where the “real” story of the movie unfolds. It become less about this wild event that happens each year and more about this family keeping a man on the run inside their home from people wanting to kill him.

Australian actor Rhys Wakefield is the ringleader of this group of wealthy collegiate individuals looking to kill the man inside the Sandin residence. If the family doesn’t comply with their demands, they will have no choice to force entry and kill everyone. Wakefield is easily the most entertaining character in this thinly written film. He’s vicious, humorous, and utterly portrays his violent tendencies with such ease. Unfortunately, his joker-like demeanor can’t save “The Purge” from being such a slog from halfway in till the end. With a few small surprises in store late in the game and a cool fight sequence with Ethan Hawke and the perpetrators, “The Purge” isn’t completely empty. However, the story is sparsely conceived and these surprises are too little too late to really care. As we approach the conclusion, things become pretty silly and unintentionally humorous. With a lack of big moments and neither being terrifying nor providing anything remotely insightful with its great premise, “The Purge” can’t deliver the goods it initially set out to do.

Grade: 2 out of 5

Published by Mountain Views News on June 15th, 2013
http://mtnviewsnews.com/v07/htm/n24/p16.htm