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Title: The Purge (2013)
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Ethan Hawke | ... | James Sandin | |
| Lena Headey | ... | Mary Sandin | |
| Max Burkholder | ... | Charlie Sandin | |
| Adelaide Kane | ... | Zoey Sandin | |
| Edwin Hodge | ... | Bloody Stranger | |
| Rhys Wakefield | ... | Polite Leader | |
| Tony Oller | ... | Henry | |
| Arija Bareikis | ... | Mrs. Grace Ferrin | |
| Tom Yi | ... | Mr. Cali | |
| Chris Mulkey | ... | Mr. Halverson | |
| Tisha French | ... | Mrs. Halverson | |
| Dana Bunch | ... | Mr. Ferrin | |
 |
Peter Gvozdas | ... | Dr. Peter Buynak |
| John Weselcouch | ... | Freak Interrupting | |
| Alicia Vela-Bailey | ... | Female Freak | |
In an America wracked by crime and overcrowded prisons, the government has sanctioned an annual 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity-including murder-becomes legal. The police can't be called. Hospitals suspend help. It's one night when the citizenry regulates itself without thought of punishment. On this night plagued by violence and an epidemic of crime, one family wrestles with the decision of who they will become when a stranger comes knocking. When an intruder breaks into James Sandin's (Ethan Hawke) gated community during the yearly lockdown, he begins a sequence of events that threatens to tear a family apart. Now, it is up to James, his wife, Mary (Lena Headey), and their kids to make it through the night without turning into the monsters from whom they hide. Written by Universal Pictures
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Once a year laws do not exist. Once a year you can do anything you want for twelve hours and not get in trouble. This is called The Purge and it is designed to let humans let out their frustration on the world. This apparently keeps society healthy, the economy up, and crime down. I'm here to tell you that The Purge is a waste of time. A Waste of money and should not be viewed by anyone with half a mind.
I don't even know where to start with this mess. Let's start with the idea of the purge. In 2022 the idea is that if we let people go crazy for 12 hours they will be calm for 364.5 days. The logic and science behind this is beyond far-fetched and it is really laughable. The fact that anybody believes this works is out of their mind. Think about this. Somebody pitched this idea to a group of people and those people said, "yeah I believe that, we could make millions." Well I'm here to say shame on you people and how dare you try and convince audiences across the country of this crazy premise. To make it even worse scientists and other people try to say the purge is an excuse to kill the homeless and people who cannot defend themselves. It is an excuse to get rid of the weak and allow the strong to survive. I don't like the idea that this movie supported the idea of killing weak and poor people is OK. The first half of the movie really focuses on these crazy people trying to find this one particular homeless person. It allows them to cleanse society and themselves. It makes zero sense and this movie had potential and it was wasted on this piece of garbage.
The story is basic. There is a family with a lot of money and they sell security systems for the purge. Their house is huge and I will say I would love to live there. So the purge is going on and their youngest son sees a man in the streets calling for help and of course he lets him in. Shortly after a radical group of lunatics come knocking at the door looking for him and if they don't get him in a certain amount of time then they will come in and get him. While they waste time at the house they could have been running wild and cleansing the world of more poor people. Instead they waste time on this one person.
These people are completely out of their mind and it is impossible to believe they are normal for 99.9% of the year. There is no possible reason why they go nuts for 12 hours and go on a murdering rampage. I'm not sure if they are supposed to be funny or scary either. While they are outside they are dancing and prancing around being stupid with their stupid masks. One is on the others back running around. The masks are on and they pretend to make out with one another and it was really failed comedy or an even bigger failed scare. I just sat in my chair and laughed throughout the entire movie. I don't know if its horror movies or me but I find them really funny. I laughed more during this movie then I did during The Hangover 3.
I will be honest, I did hate this movie but I don't regret seeing it because I did have a good time and enjoy myself. I sat in a full theater and listened to the crowd tear apart the movie. People hated the daughter's boyfriend and the son's stupidity and the craziness that was happening. Every time somebody died the crowd burst into cheers and applause so that was awesome. I liked ripping the movie apart in the theater. There was a scene where there is a giant glass bowl filled with dominos and for some reason I thought it was the funniest thing.
Other than the crowd I was entertained through this disaster of a movie. The action scenes where bodies were flying and people were dying were cool to see and what the movie should have been about. The selling point of the movie was 12 hours of lawless mayhem. I wanted to see chaos and the world go to hell. Instead I got a stupid story about a family I didn't really care about being tormented by people out of their mind. This movie tried to touch on human nature and how they change in the heat of the moment and how they do things they won't normally do. It doesn't work. The movie gives the wrong message and the wrong counter argument to the message.
Overall The Purge is a mess. The lame jump scares I saw coming thirty seconds before they happened were not scary. The lunatics were not scary or believable and reminded me of a silly version of The Strangers. That movie was scary and the stuff they did made me scared. The stuff these guys did made me laugh. I wanted something 100% different from this movie and I got boring characters, a terrible story, and a disappointment. This movie fails at almost everything it attempted. It doesn't get a recommendation, it doesn't even get and A for Effort. I haven't don't this in a while but The Purge gets The WillyT Seal of DISapproval. Don't waste your time. Take my advice, save your money, save your time, save the gas in your car. If you really have to see it, wait a few months and get it off the internet for free. You're welcome.