The Purge

Director: James DeMonaco

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge, Rhys Wakefield, Tony Oller, Arija Bareikis, Tom Yi, Chris Mulkey, Tisha French, Dana Bunch.

If on one night you could commit any crime what would you do? Set in the near future, the United States is controlled by an organization called "New Founding Fathers." This organization has established a new law that for 12 hours per year, any crime, including murder, is legal and all police, firemen and medical emergency is suspended. They believe that humans have a need to purge and to release their inner demons, and by doing it, crimes would decrease. In the pilot of the movie, we are introduced to James, Mary, Zoe and Charlie, a family who lives in a rich neighborhood. This particular year the Sandin family is beginning the annual purge with a security system in their house. This system was created by James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) and it had sales success, mainly because of the neighbors. Because of this success on sales, the family (mostly James) supports the idea of the purge, but they don't participate.

When young Charlie, son of the couple, is looking through the security cameras he sees a stranger asking for help on the street. Then he suspends the security system for a few seconds so that the stranger can get in. And by doing so he puts at risk the lives of his family because a group of rich kids are participating in the purge and they are looking for this "stranger". Through the night we see that not only they are participating in the purge and that there are other threats to the family's safety.

The purge is a different thriller of the many seen lately. Not great as to merit awards and acclamations, but interesting enough to discuss aspects of society. What aspects? You see, in the film we see that the poor, the black people, the homeless, are the easiest targets and the hardest hit of purging. There are no class divisions because the lower class is dying. And violence is also declining because of it. The Purge may have reduced crime, but has done so at the cost of untold lives weeded out by an increasingly large group of disaffected people. And the fact that people are attracted to this type of film is that it can be related to reality.

This is not a blockbuster full of special effects. It is a simple movie that relies more on its script. The direction of James DeMonaco is generally linked to horror films, with dark frames, suspense music, and a lot of blood. Sometimes it seemed that the film was running out of time, everything happened very fast, and sometimes it seemed that nothing happened at all. The positive is for not overdo the use of the camera used by a character as movie viewing and for establishing a twist at the end. The performance of the actors is normal as it can be for a thriller, nothing to talk about.

The purge is not a masterpiece. But it's a film that will entertain and leave you on the edge of your sit all the time. It will not only scare you but also make you question human nature. Plus it will let you curious about things that were not deeply addressed in the film, as the organization "The New Founding Fathers", making you curious enough to want a sequel.

“Blessed be our New Founding Fathers for letting us Purge and cleanse our souls. Blessed be America, a nation reborn.”

Check the Trailer: