MOVIE REVIEW - The Purge

Once in a while a big hit comes out of nowhere and takes us all by surprise at the box office. This summer, The Purge is that movie. 

The Purge was made on a shoestring budget in Hollywood terms, and raked in big bucks its first week out.  Although its top of the carts run will be over this week, it basically paid for itself in one weekend.   We love a good chill in our movies sometimes, and that was the idea in The Purge.

It's the story that takes place in 2022, not too far in the future.   America has not climbed out of its economic woes through the current and future administrations in Washington D.C.  So a new kind of government is in place now, called the New Founding Fathers. They has designated 12 hours a year to be called The Purge.  All law, and emergency services are suspended, and Americans are free to go out and "purge" those they have issue with. All crime is legal, including murder.  The idea is to rid America of those who "have not" and are a weight on society.  The movie states that this has been the reason the economy is booming, and the reason America is great again.

This chronicles one night, with one family who generally doesn't participate in the purge, but usually ride it out in their heavily fortified home in the suburbs.  But after their son lets in a homeless veteran who was being hunted down by radical, entitled college kids they find themselves in the middle of a hunt, where these kids are going to kill the veteran, and the family inside. Can they survive, The Purge?

OK, this is pretty bleak in every facet.   The idea behind this movie is actually original, and there are compelling moments in it. Very bloody, and violent, but not gratuitously so, as it's all central to the story at hand.   And depending on you point of view, this only shows the purge through the eyes of a single family, and not in the country at large and that may be troubling to some who want a larger lens. I was fine with making it singular.

But this when you look at it deeper, is very dark in what it is saying about all of us.  And to its credit it is an equal opportunity offender.  Overall, it makes that case that America is so violent that there is no hope.  It states literally that there is so much rage in all of us, that we look forward to venting it to make us happier.  We look forward to killing once a year.  It really goes after privileged college kids, who are so entitled they view the purge as something they have a right to do, and they are in it simply for sport like a video game.  It shows veterans as a weight on society, that these kids feel need to be purged.  Overall, its statement is that there is no hope for America in the traditional sense, and violence is that only way out to prosperity.  What different groups of people choose to do with this freedom is the main focus.

So needless to say, this is not an uplifting flick.   But that is the trend right now in Hollywood.  They must feel the mood of the nation is gloomy, because there is no shortage of "end of the world," "end of the country" movies out there.   And many more are on the way this summer.  This breaks it down on a local scale, and that is a bit chilling.  But The Purge in the end, is just another violent shoot 'em  up all night movie.  There are some original parts, and some scary scenes, but when you're done, it feels a bit low budget.  But movie goers love a good scare, and seldom in summer do we get one.

The Purge.   Like a jolt?  Then this is your flick.  Just don't expect to feel very happy when this is over.