The Purge Review –
Slapdash at Best
I recently rented out a copy from my local Redbox of The Purge, a great thriller/horror movie that shows a dystopian America where the rich and elite use one day a year to do whatever they like; everything’s legal, and their favorite past-time is glorified bum beating in the form of cult-like cleansing, or “purging,” hence the name.
One of the main producers was Michael Bay, so I knew I was in for a movie about artful storytelling and well developed characters (har, har.) The intro started strong, showing a beautiful upper-class neighborhood that must’ve cost a pretty penny to rent out. The family is a pretty big cliché that already put a bad taste in my mouth: the dad’s trying to hold his family together, but his distanced children are making it hard for him.
With a slutty, airheaded teen daughter and a son (played by Max Burkholder, whose most prominent role was on Parenthood) with a bad heart condition, they plan to lock themselves up tight when the annual Purge comes around – but the boy, smart as he is, lets in a man hunted by cultists so mad and drugged-up that the Children of the Corn would be blushing with jealousy. Good goin’, kid.
The leader of the little band of serial killers (played by Rhys Wakefield) reminds me of a college recruiter for some reason, and utilizes only the utmost respect to tell the family that if they can’t find the homeless guy in their massive home within the hour, they’re coming in and “purging” the lot of ‘em. This obviously leads to the most intense part of the movie… which felt like it only lasted fifteen minutes tops.
The horror scenes themselves were slow paced and I felt it hard to keep awake. The most interesting point of the movie was during a very well-choreographed fight scene between a member of the family and the cultist attackers. Admittedly, this scene left me on the edge of my seat!
That aside, however, the movie falls flat. The selling point, horror, is lacking severely. They utilize the same, old copout of “bad-guy-gets-shot-by-third-party-just-as-a-protagonist-is- (Ain’t they just the cutest?) gonna-die” thing a total of three times throughout the film. I feel as though this movie was a lot like Communism: seems ideal on paper, but fails to really work out when put into action. Even my friends who’re polar opposites when it comes to movie taste, felt hesitant to disagree with my synopsis.
In short, I’m glad I rented the movie, because even buying a matinee ticket would’ve left me kicking rocks around with frustration once I was outside the theatre. The Purge is a solid four out of ten, but I’m not generous.