The Purge

In a world where the political landscape is often controversial and much a topic of discussion, Blumhouse productions offers us a slight peek into a world where the US government has been overthrown, and all socioeconomic issues have apparently been resolved due to one bizarre change. 

In a fictional 2022, a new government has instituted a yearly Purge, a 12 hour period where all crime- including murder- is completely legal. No emergency services available for support from the 7pm start until the end at 7am the following morning. This first movie follows the Sandins, the traditional 2.4 family who have made their vast wealth by providing security in order to protect families and homes from participants of the Purge. The story takes place inside their home, when their youngest child gives refuge to a frightened and injured stranger, unknowingly bringing a violent gang of murderers to the Sandins front door as a result of this act of kindness. 

It’s an odd film. 

Despite the harshness of the Purge and the severe potential consequences of the evening, the family are so reliant on their home security system (covered windows and doors) that they don't seem to display any awareness of the potential dangers. It's frustrating to watch.

As soon as The Purge begins, they scatter, carrying on with their daily lives like The Purge is nothing, despite arrogantly chastising their Purge party loving neighbours. Work, treadmills and making out with a deceptive boyfriend are more of a priority than monitoring security, or being together as a family on what could have been a disastrous night. In fact, the family unit isn't close at all, as each member of the household except for Papa Sandin expresses absolutely zero interest in keeping their loved ones safe.

This brings us to the teenage daughter and the boyfriend... The one who snuck into the house before the security system is activated. Horny teen angst is more of a priority to the daughter than the realisation that anybody could have snuck into their home prior to their lock down, or that her boyfriend may have darker motivations for doing so than he first let on. In fact, she shows so little consideration for her family that she expresses no concern for her father when her boyfriend pulls a gun on him.

At this point Papa Sandin is in panic mode- At the very moment he's being shot at is the moment he realises his son has disabled the security in order to let an injured stranger who is begging for help into their home for sanctuary. Kind hearted as this act was, the child was oblivious to the fact that the injury could have been a trick, or there could have been other people waiting. He learns a very hard lesson when a gang of violent yuppies appear at the front door, threatening to kill the Sandin's if they don't get their Purge victim back.

Which is something that Papa Sandin is willing to do in order to protect his family. It's the only thing that matters to him, but his pathetic and argumentative wife is willing to die on her morals and drag her family with her. It's wrong to give the stranger to the murderers. Despite knowing the security system might not hold and that her children are under threat from 8 machete wielding maniacs slobbering at her front door.

It begs the question if a world without the threat of danger in the every day is really a successful world due to the Sandins lack of safety awareness, or if the Sandins are really the people that are worth saving in this newly designed world simply because they're wealthy. The leader of the violent gang, referred to in the credits as "Polite Leader" (Rhys Wakefield) certainly thinks so. He doesn't want to harm the Sandins, but he will if he has to. He has little to no tolerance for what he considers unacceptable behaviour, though he will not exhibit any prejudice based on financial value if someone crosses a line. By fighting back, the Sandin's make themselves a target, in a case of what can only be described as "too little, too late."

In fact, timing in this film is everything, yet the Sandin's are consistently slower than everyone else in the movie. When the Purge starts, Papa Sandin shrugs off not noticing the time like it's nothing. The son's timing with the stranger couldn't be worse for a multitude of reasons. When they decide what to do with the stranger, it's very last minute and they're already in trouble. When the neighbours appear, in a third act unforeseen twist, it's almost perfect timing for the Sandin's, but not quite. They're slow to think, react or make a decision, with no clear or respected voice to lead the action.

It's a shame, as Ethan Hawke (James Sandin) has so much gravitas, but he's actually very underutilized here. In fact, his best moment is when he does something that nobody does in any movie outside of the Zombieland series- DOUBLE TAP- to make sure that the bad guys are actually dead. The same can be said for Lena Headey, who plays mother and wife Mary Sandin. Headey is a badass who is at her best playing strong or quirky female characters, so Sandin felt like a very dull character for her. Her best moment came in the final scenes, where you get to see the raw awesomeness that you usually get from a Headey performance. Controversially Rhys Wakefield was very entertaining to watch. It’s easy to ignore the subtle changes in his facial expressions when he’s talking, the ones that give menace to his performance and show us that this calm, charming character is in fact truly evil. Other reviewers might see his performance as hammy, but in a rather droll film, his entertaining quirks were a welcome change of tone.  

Again, it's an odd movie.

If the setting was changed and we were experiencing the Purge from the point of view of the poor and homeless, and really seeing the effect of The Purge as we’re told it’s happening in the media, the film would have been amazing. It would definitely have had more of an impact if the Sandins were a likeable family, but they are not. Each of them makes so many stupid mistakes, it’s hard not to root for the villain. Knowing the behaviours of the arrogant and priveleged made this film wildly predictable. A fresher and less obvious take on this would have been more interesting.

For all of its flaws, there are so many positive points and it is watchable. Is there rewatch potential? Maybe. Does it tease enough to increase the desire to watch the other movies? Yeah, absolutely. There are a lot of unanswered questions, which makes the film unsatisfying in some ways.

With a few changes this might have been an amazing film. The bones and the potential were there, and the scenes were tense and the film clean, but the cast and certain aspects of the story do let it down.