The Purge, 2013.
Written and Directed by James DeMonaco.
Starring Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge and Rhys Wakefield.
SYNOPSIS:
A family is held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is legalized.
What if one night a year, for 12 hours you could commit any crime you wanted, including murder?
The Purge takes place in 2022 where America now has a 1% crime rate, the economy is booming and it’s all thanks to the annual purge that takes place every year. We follow a family, James (Ethan Hawke), Mary (Lena Headey), Charlie (Max Burkholder) and Zoey Sandin (Adelaide Kane), as they prepare themselves for the night of the purge. In the middle of the night Charlie sees a man (Edwin Hodge) outside who has been beaten and is screaming for help. Without thinking Charlie opens the doors to their house and lets him in, not knowing if the Sandins can trust him or not. Not too long after a group of people show up at the Sandin’s front door with masks and weapons. The stranger Charlie let in was their target for tonight’s purge and they want him back or else they will kill him and everyone in the house. James now must decide if he should try and help the stranger in his house or let him loose in order to protect his family.
From the moment I saw the trailer for this I was instantly intrigued by its premise. The idea that the American government has allowed a 12 hour period where all crime is legal one time a year is quite interesting. I wondered how they would go about executing this in the film. Sadly, the premise doesn’t get executed too well and The Purge ends up turning into a routine home invasion thriller. Nevertheless, I still had a good time watching this and would say that it is somewhat entertaining.
Most of the enjoyment comes from the tension the film sets up. You’re never quite sure what’s going to happen next or how certain characters are going to act. A lot of the tension comes from the leader of the group of villains, who is played wonderfully by newcomer Rhys Wakefield. That guy has a creepy look and the fact that his character is so polite and yet menacing at the same time makes him truly frightening.
With a film like this it certainly helps if you can get a few decent performances from the cast members and thankfully you get that here. Ethan Hawke is great here as the lead and his character is somewhat reminiscent of the role he played in Sinister, so you do connect with him and want him to survive. Lena Headey is good as Hawke’s wife and gets a few great moments to shine towards the end of the film. Max Burkholder is surprisingly good as the son but Adelaide Kane who plays the daughter was too flat and her character wasn’t all too great either. Like I mentioned before, Rhys Wakefield is one of the standouts here but I also thought Edwin Hodge, as the stranger in the house, was quite good too despite not getting many lines.
Things get very violent in the third act when the action starts to really ramp up. It almost turns into a little bit of a dark comedy, with some of the violence providing a few laughs (I’m not sure if they were supposed to be intentional but either way I laughed a good few times). Nothing gets overly gory which I was glad to see but there is no shortage of blood and people dying. There’s also a third act twist that actually works well and almost would have been better had it been the main story instead of the end twist.
Overall, The Purge is a decent thriller. It would have been nice if the film had stuck more with the story of the purge rather than the home invasion angle, but it still works in some ways and is definitely worth a watch.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Jake Peffer
Originally published June 13, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
