The Purge

There's nothing worse then a movie with good potential and an interesting idea that just doesn't use the potential correctly. The Purge had a solid chance of being outstanding but instead, the movie shoots for lazy and ordinary, never reaching the potential of the interesting concept.

What if, for one day a year, all crime was legal? Would you participate? Based on the movie's events, 9 years from now, all crime will be legal for exactly 12 hours with no police or any interference in the way. Apparently doing this will knock down crime rates, poverty, and homelessness. Ethan Hawke plays James, an alarms system developer who makes his living based off other people's fear and desperation to survive. During this year's purge though, a homeless man is allowed inside by James' son, attracting a group of killers who will do whatever it takes to get their target back to them.

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One strength that The Purge has going for it, ironically enough, is that before the purge begins, the material is actually quite chilling. The opening scenes are brutally realistic and the choice of peaceful music adds a perfect contrast to making these scenes even more frightening. Watching the neighbors speak of this in anticipatement and sharpen their weapons for the night's events are scenes far stronger then anything that happens once the purge actually begins. If the movie had stayed this strong it really had a great shot at being stellar.

However, once the purge begins, shit hits the fan, and not just for all of the leads being attacked, the viewers aren't avoiding this either. The Purge begins to drag once the action takes place. At times, the movie starts venturing into a weird Hunger Games/The Strangers lovechild territory which really hurts its' chances of succeeding considering both of those movies were much stronger. It takes forever for The Purge to move from one idea to the other, it's a 90 minute movie that moves like a corpse without any surprises or thrills along the way.

One of the most disappointing things in The Purge is how many missed opportunities are present. There's an odd, and very unneeded subplot with Ethan Hawke's daughter and her boyfriend that is ended before it even has started. They go through so much shit to protect this homeless man and you never find out anything about him besides being homeless. And all of the action scenes feel like a ridiculously broken record. There's only so many times someone can almost be killed just to be saved with a second to spare by another family member that just popped into frame before the material just feels stale. And what's worse is none of the performers excluding Rhys Wakefield, as the leader of the killers with a joker like-smile and menace to match seem to really be giving it their all here. It's hard to give a shit about any of these paper thin characters.

The Purge had an interesting concept but instead of exploring this, we're treated to nonstop tedium and typical, bland action scenes. It had all the potential to be a stellar thriller about humans' animal-like instincts and love of violence but instead the whole thing comes crashing down as easily as the family's house.

2/4