Director: James DeMonaco. Cast: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey. 85 min. Rated R. USA/France. Horror/Thriller.
Year 2022. "Crime is at an all-time low, because one night a year, all crime is legal." So the premise is perfect for a philosophical movie about human psychology, to become a memorable cult horror film. But then ... the screenplay becomes distracted to a situation right out of Peckinpah's
Straw Dogs, where a lone man, who actually believes in the Annual Purge, defends his home and family against the purgers. This well-directed and beautifully-shot story had so many sociopolitical aspects to explore (because the extravagant themes don't seem too extravagant), but feels content to a simple gory thriller. Wasted creativity.
Mo says:
I hated this movie, it was boring and pointless. I don't buy the scenario at all. This will never happen! If the government ever decides they want to kill off all the poor they would just do it themselves.
ReplyDeleteIf this did ever happen I know of a few people I would probably like to kill but would I be able to do it? I doubt it.
This story could be told better as a TV show, we could get to know the characters better and care about them. In this movie I didn't care about the main characters at all and was hoping they would all be killed and the movie would just end.
I see your point, Toast. The ironic thing is, during my short lifetime I've seen some insane situations (although not as exaggerated as shown in "The Purge" - after all, it's a futuristic fiction film), where people flock around an event or concept, and you cannot believe is happening. This ranges from highly popular (and IMO, denigrating) reality shows such as "The Bachelor", to mass murder events such as the Iraq War. These things happen, and if you go against it, the mass propaganda will label you as unpatriotic. That's why even though the situation pictured in "The Purge" is hard to believe, the social roots are there, and that's where I think the movie are coming from. I'm just upset these roots were not well explored in the film.
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