In The Purge, a happy, wealthy family gets ready for the annual night of the Purge, a 12-hour period during which all crime is legal. This new way to fight crime has been very successful – crime is at an all time low, as is unemployment. Moreover, it is supposedly an easy way to rid society of those who do not contribute.
The movie chronicles the night of the Purge in the home of this privileged family, and despite the high-tech security measures, the night goes awry. The impulsive son Charlie (Max Burkholder) lets a man crying for help into their home. This man appears to be hunted by a group of upper class, “highly educated” mask-wearing nutters, who threaten to unleash all terror upon their family if they don’t release the “homeless” pig to them, stat. Because daddy James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) eventually sees the moral light, he decides not to sacrifice this man. The crazies easily destroy their security system and a cat and mouse games ensues inside the house.
A desperate attempt at horror
Despite the movie being categorized in the horror genre and its many horror elements (e.g. screeching violins when someone suddenly jumps into view; people crouching through the dark with flashlights; the contrast between skipping girls in frilly dresses and their wearing creepy masks and wielding huge machetes; the typical horror voyeuristic-type camera viewpoints), the movie did not really feel like a horror. It felt more like a desperate attempt to make a thriller seem horror-like – what happens is not horror-scary.
The problem is that this movie would have been better if it had not been a horror. The story of the wealthy family is not particularly interesting – it would have been much more interesting if it had been a thriller, following the story of those on the streets. It would probably have been more interesting if it had been more typically dystopian sci-fi, e.g. the story line where you follow the rebel group that does not support the Purge (away with those blue flowers!) and their rise against these “New Founding Fathers”, the new government of the U.S., whomever they are.
The issues here lie primarily in the writing. Director and screenplay writer DeMonaco presents himself as an amateur, in all honesty, one in need of a few more writing classes. The characters are plain, boring and cookie cutter. The best example is the character of Zoey Sandin (Adelaide Kane), an angsty teenager rebelling against the family. She continually runs away from her parents despite there being murderous lunatics on the loose. A real teenager most likely would have been so scared she would not let her dad out of her sight. Moreover, those parents? They are assholes for not finding and protecting their daughter whenever she would run off. Then there is that group of maniacs. These are such standard villains, especially the leader, crazy-eyes, is so incredibly standard it’s laughable. Not to mention the neighbors, by the way. The foreshadowing of that twist in the beginning of the movie was way too obvious: “oh yeah, the whole neighborhood is saying you built that addition to your wonderful home with our money”.
[quote_right]”Tonight allows people a release for all the hatred and violence and aggression they keep up inside them.”[/quote_right]Your Neighbors will kill You Because they’re jealous bitches
This leads me to the next part of the horrendous writing: the motivations. Maybe I’m being naïve but in my idyllic world of good film, there are no people who simply decide to kill off neighbors because “we hate you so much for selling us security equipment that will separate us and keep us safe from the madmen during a night where everyone kills everyone and making a lot of money off of it”. That is their reason? Come now. They needed those security systems anyway, and Sandin would probably have offered his nice neighbors a discount if it had been more realistic. It’s the wrong motivation. Personally, I’d go shoot Sandin because I saw the amazingly expensive security system fail so easily. Now that I could understand (if only a little bit more).
The only character that is remotely interesting may be James Sandin, the dad, because he goes through a little evolution in his character. In the beginning of the evening, he states he does not feel the need to kill, so he does not participate in the Purge. Nevertheless, he goes about killing off the crazies as if he’s a seasoned mercenary, blasting bullets into already dead bodies as if it’s nothing. Makes you wonder about his killing lust.
In short, in my opinion, this would have been a better movie if, well, almost everything was changed about the story, setting, plot and characters. As long as we can keep Cersei though. Lena Headey continues to kick ass, even with an American accent and a dark brown bob.
Let’s move on to the thematic discussion and conclusion, because let’s be honest, the theme and idea behind this movie is awesome, if so sorely underused.
Discussion
So, as for the more interesting part of this movie (which for certain is NOT the story). The theme and idea behind the bad story.
“History has proven this over and over again. We are inherently a violent species. Wars, genocide, murder, the denial of our true selves is the problem. The Purge not only contains societal violence to a single evening, but the country-wide catharsis creates psychological stability by letting us release the aggression we all have inside of us.”
– Dr. Peter Buynak, Behavioral Scientist of the John Hopkins University
According to this fictional doctor on TV (wonderful choice to have an authority present this idea, by the way), violent intent is explained biologically: we are inherently violent. Essentially, there’s nothing to be done about it and we had better allow it and even embrace it. Because, as it’s suggested later on, isn’t the Purge just a great way to unburden society of all those who do not contribute to society, a.k.a. the poor, unhealthy and uneducated? A criminologist, again on TV, states the “decriminalization of murder works“.
Why yes, you can shut off insanity
What I don’t understand, though, is that for instance, the leader of the so superbly educated kids seems rather insane. Why would this insanity be contained to only one night? Is it something, according to director/writer DeMonaco, people can just shut off? For example, crazy-eyes just shoots his friend in the head as if it’s nothing – would he not miss him throughout the rest of the year? You would think he would be more considerate despite the free-for-all. If you were to believe the doctor though, the catharsis renders people sane or at least less inclined to commit violence. I think the doctor (/DeMonaco) simply ignores a large part of the population that might actually get a taste of violence and will continue to do it throughout the year or those that are led to commit crime due to environmental factors. But isn’t that the problem with crime rates in general though? Crime rates can be manipulated to the advantage of those who present them. Crime is mostly hidden, and crime rates never truly present reality. DeMonaco took a shortcut in this part of the concept of the Purge.
Interestingly, the Sandin family is very careless about the Purge. They are hidden away in their safe (but not so safe) house, and don’t lock it down until the very last minute. In general, they treat the Purge as normal, as well as the criminal intent of people: crime and murder have become normal and available to everyone and anyone. Moreover, throughout the movie it is repeated several times that the Purge saved our country. Consider that The Purge takes place in 2022, that’s less than 10 years from now. No way people will have gotten used to this murder carnival, and no way that “crime rates” and unemployment rates have decreased that fast.
An invitation to solve your problems through violence
If a concept like the Purge was implemented though, it would invite and encourage people to solve all their issues through violence. Although The Purge suggests that all people have violence in them, even if this is not true in reality, it would give everyone the opportunity to rid of problems as petty as the neighbors’ jealousy. I cannot imagine that that would be what a government wants, even if it makes for less crime throughout the rest of the year. In fact, it makes for a highly lazy government, and it makes me wonder who these genius though remarkably cult leader-like “New Founding Fathers” are.
On a final note, the movie is introduced with the following claims: “Unemployment is at 1%. Crime is at an all-time low. Violence barely exists.” Has the Purge also decreased unemployment rates? How is it even relevant? It’s a pathetic and standard attempt at creating a utopian – but no wait – dystopian world.
All in all, The Purge offers a very interesting concept and if it had been worked out better and presented in a better format, it could have been a very fascinating watch. As is, the movie is mediocre at best. Oh, how I wish they would have put this concept to better use.
A sequel of The Purge has already been announced and I am both dreading and looking forward to it. Perhaps they will surprise us with a better movie, perhaps and hopefully, they will give us a better crafted story with more interesting characters at a more interesting place during the Purge. I’m not getting my hopes up too high, though, it may very well be that they’ll just give us the same story with different characters in a different house. I’m keeping my fingers crossed nevertheless.
What did you like least/best about The Purge? What would be the first thing you would change?
What would a real world Purge look like? Could it work?
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