The Purge

Sometimes, I watch a trailer and I'm completely taken aback by the seemingly amazing concept and I can’t wait to watch the movie and I'm building up hype with my friends and the excitement is unbearable and I watch the trailer over and over again and it’s all just so hectic and crazy. Most of the time. This is usually justified by an amazing movie; such as Life of Pi and Inception. Thus, my excitement justified. On the other hand, I've been made to look like a fool for being so excited; such as the ridicule known as The Devil Inside (For real though, it looked so good). Going into The Purge, I was excited man. The concept of having an annual do-whatever-crime-you-want day is genius. My friends and I were constantly thinking of what we would do if we had that luxury (!) and I even jumped on the #ThePurge bandwagon on Twitter. Fair to say, expectations were high.

guardian.co.uk ©

Let’s get the goods out the way first: the film has got a very good concept at its base and there’s no denying that. Furthermore, the build-up to the annual Purge was really well executed and along with Ethan Hawke and his family, I was also very nervous for the fictional clock to hit midnight. The early scene with random citizens announcing their Purge plans for the day on the local radio station was an intimidating way to start the movie; notably with the caller who was planning to murder his boss. 

All my pre-movie excitement and frustration is reflected in how fast I’m eating my popcorn; Hawke’s family sit anxiously with me awaiting the buzzer which announces the start of the Purge and I get flashbacks of the similar moment in The Hunger Games and how exciting that was. The buzzer goes off and…

...the movie - like this unnecessary long gap - goes downhill. I know that was lame but I was tempted. We understand why Zoey (the daughter) is frustrated but why the hell is that girly-looking little boy frustrated? Why is he scaring his Mum with that frightening remote control baby doll? Yeah, I get that he doesn’t understand the need for The Purge but it just does not explain why he’s so miserable, feminine and stupid. The short-lived magical appearance of Zoey’s lover was short-lived, why? There was no need for him to start going ape shit and start shooting at Hawke. This is what happens when an inexperienced director decides to direct his own writing and this is a great example of why writers and directors should be kept well apart from one another. Seriously, I don’t even think they should greet each other until the red carpet. A great concept ruined from the very offset because of poor decisions by DeMonaco. How about if Hawke was a politically involved character or a negative stereotype? What if the attacks on his house and his family were more personal, as opposed to just a few crazy individuals looking to take down some homeless man? Also, not the smartest decision to cast a black actor for that role.

The constant reference to America and Americans gets you thinking a while but the effect of this movie should have been a lot greater. Instead, I left the cinema laughing at the bleeding face and broken nose of Grace (the blonde lady who saved her neighbour's life and then wanted to kill her after). Also, if you want to kill someone, why must you scare them first? It just makes no sense! Just fuckin’ kill them.

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