Nothing like starting off a new series of Movie Reviews & Reflections like with a thriller franchise like The Purge.
I recently acquired the 5-Movie Blu-ray of The Purge and its sequels. I am somehow still stuck in the ~Spooky SZN~ mood and decided to have a marathon. What’s nice about these movies is you don’t have to see them in order to “get” the story. But, I do.
By release-date, we have:
The Purge (2013)
The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
The Purge: Election Year (2016)
The First Purge (2018)
The Forever Purge (2021)
And so we start with the original; The Purge.
What happens when you can commit any type of illegal act for 12 hours without consequence?
In the US of A, you kill people. According to these movies.
The Purge starts with text on the screen saying unemployment is at an all-time low and poverty is basically non-existent in the United States. Sounds good, right? Yeah, of course. But how can that be? Well, thanks to the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA), a new holiday had been implemented where “any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours.” To purge is to purify, to release anger and hatred, and to uplift the new American dream.
The main character in the first movie is played by Ethan Hawke (completely forgot about that), a married man with kids who works for a security company that sold the latest security systems to everyone in his very well-off neighborhood. All the systems are top-of-the-line and meant to be purge-proof. But, of course, there’s meant to be some hiccup to give us the sense of a “thriller”.
Once the Purge announcement is given and the terrifying sound rings, the 12-hour heinous evening begins. James (Hawke) pays close attention to the security monitors while he, his wife, and his two kids, Zoey and Charlie, are safe for the evening. Ha. Zoey’s older boyfriend (who James isn’t fond of) snuck into the house before it went on lock down because he wanted to “talk” to her dad. From there, many a bad luck of occurrences happen in and outside the Sandin home with a twist at the end that you could definitely see coming.
Here’s a clue: don’t forget about the neighbors.
From what the viewer could gather with the limited view of Purge Night from the Sandin perspective, people were going on murderous rampages, others trying to find shelter in not-so-lucky parts of the United States. Once the siren sounds again at the end of the 12 hours, people go back to their everyday lives as if nothing happened. Until the next year.
Since I’ve already seen the movie almost 10 years ago, I wasn’t surprised by the way the movie went. I remember thinking the idea of the movie was genius but wasn’t flushed out well enough for a true dystopian take on the evil of man.
To have a successful economy (something that’s completely made up), low poverty, and an almost nonexistent unemployment percentage, people should be allowed to commit murder and other heinous crimes for 12 hours once a year. And how exactly is poverty so low, you may ask? Guess who the American people are purging first.
The helpless. The poor. The homeless. The sick. And then anybody else that people hold grudges against. Like your neighbor who doesn’t like you and has absolutely HAD IT with you. Expect a “friendly” visit from them with a machete or AK-47.
For me, given that I have the means and resources, I’d hack Federal Student Aid and wipe out everyone’s student debt. Get that right out of the way. And then somehow find a way to get my mortgage “taken care of”, if you know what I mean. And, of course, a little trip to Target. What didn’t even cross my mind was murder.
Let’s hope the next two are better at telling their stories.
KrashingWaves 
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