Starring: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder
With violent crime and poverty on the rise in America, a new
government was assembled who created an annual event known as “The Purge”,
where once a year between the hours of 19:00pm and 07:00am, virtually all
crime, including murder, is legal. The purpose is to satisfy the population’s
innate bloodlust and aggression. In 2022, the Sandin family settle in for
another Purge when youngest child, Charlie (Burkholder) lets in a man (Edwin
Hodge) fleeing a group of killers who, naturally, turn up at the Sandin
residence.
Produced by Michael Bay, The Purge is an intense and violent
thriller that, whilst far from a brilliant movie, is more effective than the
Bay name may lead you to believe. The Purge’s strength lies in in its use of
sound and tension as opposed to its explicit violence (although this is a
violent film). The performances are decent, though none really stand out as
remarkable and the plot asks numerous questions that are never answered. The
concept of the Purge itself requires some suspension of disbelief and the
controversy surrounding the event is virtually never addressed. Still, the film
is very effective when it comes to shocking and disturbing its audience, taking
something of a cue from the works of George A. Romero (there’s even a shot that
seems deliberately reminiscent of an iconic shot from Night Of The Living Dead
(1968)). A short, sharp shock of a film, The Purge isn’t an enduring classic,
but it does, essentially, work.
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