The First Purge

If you like the previous movies (though anarchy was the best and the rest aren't that good), then you'll like this too.

If you actually think this movie will divide America further ... I've got news for you: that's not possible. Was I surprised how much they packed in, when it comes to political references and hints and messages (not even really hidden ones) to the current state? You better believe that I was. I did think that it might hurt the movie because people do try to escape when watching a movie not really wanting to see something they see on their news channel all day anyway.

But since it was action packed, maybe it could have worked. Seems like it didn't. Some will like it, some will hate it. But it won't convince either side to communicate more with each other. Which just to be clear is not the movies fault! Don't put that on the movie. It still has the premise we "loved" in the movie series which will obviously carry over to the TV show. And it works, if you let it and can see past the "agenda" or are with it anyway ... The criticism is there and to be honest, it doesn't seem that far fetched or stretched ... especially with some quotes almost being exact to those in real life ...

This fourth installment in the fascinating, but flawed dystopian franchise, does succeed in begin exciting and never boring, but as with the prior films remains a disappointment considering the awesome and frightening premiss. However, in this film's favor, it does fill in some of the logic gaps of the previous films, answering some persistent lingering questions in this prequel of the first ever limited Purge on Staton Island, Are people really so depraved to go on killing rampages one day a year? How could the economy and crime rates improve as a result of a yearly purge? Who would benefit from such an event? Much is explained in this installment. The totalitarian New Founding Fathers need this first purge to be a success, so when the brown and poverty stricken residents of Staten Island don't riot and kill, they send in a Blackwater type of group to make sure there are plenty of killings in hopes of turning citizens against one another. When the leader of the Blackwater group is a dead ringer or Ronny Regan, it's not hard to guess where this film's politics lie and the filmmakers opinion of our current president and his divisive style of politics for personal enrichment (At one point, the heroine refers to one of her attackers as a "pussy-grabber," a pretty direct Trump reference.). As with the other films, this one follows a disparate group of folks trying to survive the 12-hour Purge, primarily an anti-purge activist and a community minded drug kingpin. The downside to this film is similar to the others, in that there is not a lot of character development and despite a strong film concept and story set-up, the film quickly devolves into a series of action set pieces. I found this to be the weakest of the series when it came to action and suspense, but it's likely the strongest when it comes to better fleshing out the politics and the logic behind the purge. I'm also disappointed that the series is straying pretty significantly from it's horror roots in the first film and is more and more becoming an urban action film series. The first two films did an excellent job of conveying the frightening anarchy of the purge (the first film was a straight-up horror home invasion story), but subsequent films has felt more action oriented. I much preferred the uncompromising horror of the first films, which seemed to delve more into the darkness of human nature, even if the logic of the purge was less intelligible. Series creator James DeMonaco is only the writer this time and leaves the directing duties to Gerard McMurray, who does a serviceable job, but this film felt less apocalyptic and less surreal than the prior films, somewhat to it's detriment. After having watched this film and having started watching the 10 episode TV event, I think The Purge series needs to either become more political (which this film did more so) or more focused on simply presenting interesting scenarios and chaos (which the TV show is doing more of), but I keep feeling like there's not enough of either in any of these films.

I've said since day one that The Purge is an incredible concept which positively reeks of potential. I love the idea and there is so much that could done with it, but the moment the first film revealed itself as yet another home invasion movie my belief that Hollywood could do it justice diminished.

Now here we are with the 4th movie and a prequel no less, they've had 5yrs to think about the concept and what they could do with it. So why is this latest offering the worst?

You know what it reminds me of? Attack the Block (2011), that awful British sci-fi movie about aliens that attack a council estate. So we have the absolute scum of the Earth as our protagonists and I'm supposed to cheer them on? Absolutely not.

The First Purge does the same thing, our "Heroes" are drug dealers, weapons merchants etc who I simply cannot get behind. If a movie has no real protagonists it's DOA for me.

Full of the usual fantastic social commentary, incredible aspects of the Purge concept but once again a weak delivery. For the fourth time the concept feels wasted and instead we're subjected to another brainless action flick.

The more I think about the concept however the more I question whether it can be done justice. Surely there is someone out there who can do something with it?

So in conclusion, The First Purge is the worst Purge.

The Good:

Lex Scott Davis

Every aspect that embraces the concept

The Bad:

Some wretched characters

Stock scream

Awful soundtrack

Ending is ridiculous

It's a dreadful bore, with poor writing, and an incredibly forced depiction of the Black side of this fictional movement. Everything the film tries to start anew feels so out of place and none of it amounts to anything remotely interesting, while everything else feels like a forced tie in product to the other films before it, never directly addressing them, but largely relying on similar setups and situations that the other ones have already dealt with. The acting is incredibly over the top, the screenplay even more so, never knowing what it quite wants to be or wants to say. The direction is harsh, the tone and look of the film bleak, and it never decides on whether it wants to be a trip to empowerment or a social commentary, both of which the film pulls off poorly. The music is forced, the characters thin, and I can't think of many things positive about the film besides potential that the film so poorly executed. In the end, The First Purge is not only a pointless sequel, but a truly lackluster film, with no agenda but to accumulate some more money for this seemingly never ending franchise. My Rating: 2.5/10