The Purge: A Huge Letdown
By: Cameron Biddle
Man, was this movie a huge letdown. Last year I was hyped to see The Purge (written and directed by James Demonaco). I thought it looked really scary and thought a new horror movie concept was greatly needed. However, I just couldn’t find the time to see it, and it left the theaters before I could see it. After it came out On Demand, I didn’t hesitate to spend 4 bucks to watch it…and I hated it. Its overuse of clichés and poorly written plot made something that had a rather interesting idea and turned it into an ungodly stupid and cluttered mess of a film.
In the year 2022, the United States has become a reborn nation under new founding fathers. In order to lower crime and poverty rates, the government began a 12-hour event called “The Purge” where all crime is legal. Enter James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) a security system salesman who has become very wealthy because of The Purge. On the night of The Purge, James’ son Charlie (Max Burkholder) lets an injured homeless man (Edwin Hodge) in after the event started. This angers a group of “purgers” led by the “Polite Leader” (Rhys Wakefield) who threatens to kill everybody in the house unless they give up the stranger. Initially agreeing, James (after realizing what he is doing), decides to fight in order to protect his wife Mary (Lena Headey), Charlie, and his daughter Zoe (Adelaide Kane).
The first problem with this horror movie is that there is nothing scary…ever. Unless you get scared by blood and violence, then this very tame compared to other horror movies. The film also has an unbearable amount of plot holes and ridiculously dumb moments. For example, there are parts of the film where Zoe will run off somewhere in the house (while the purgers are in there) and James and Mary show little to no concern that their daughter is alone with murderers running around the house. There is also a scene where James gives Charlie a gun to defend himself. Aside from the already bad idea of giving someone who appears to be in middle school a gun, he never tells him how to use it. To put the cherry on top, James tells Charlie to hide in the basement
alone. What part of the sequence makes any logical sense?
This film also goes a little overboard with clichés. Killer who monologues before, during, and after every kill. Check. Coincidences that save the main characters. Check. People who have never used weapons before know exactly how to use them. Check.
The ending isn’t awful, but isn’t good either. It doesn’t really catch anybody who has been paying attention off-guard. The only good thing about this movie is Rhys Wakefield’s performance. He gives off the only good performance in the film, as his character is genuinely creepy and disturbing.
Aside from that, this movie is absolute garbage. To think something with such an interesting plot and a good lead actor in Ethan Hawke, only to replace it with bad writing, huge plot holes, and numbing violence. I guess I should’ve expected this from a movie produced by Michael Bay. Critics also disliked this film, with Rotten Tomatoes recording a 38% approval rating for the film. Normally this is where I tell you that if you like certain details about a movie, then you should see this one, but don’t even waste your time or
money on this one. This is easily the worst movie I’ve seen in a while. Hell, I’d even say it’s one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. If you still want to see this, all power to you, just be prepared for an hour and a half of pure garbage. To sum up my thoughts on the movie, here is a quote from the late Roger Ebert about the movie North (another absolute piece of garbage) that I feel works very wellabout how I feel about The Purge:
In the year 2022, the United States has become a reborn nation under new founding fathers. In order to lower crime and poverty rates, the government began a 12-hour event called “The Purge” where all crime is legal. Enter James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) a security system salesman who has become very wealthy because of The Purge. On the night of The Purge, James’ son Charlie (Max Burkholder) lets an injured homeless man (Edwin Hodge) in after the event started. This angers a group of “purgers” led by the “Polite Leader” (Rhys Wakefield) who threatens to kill everybody in the house unless they give up the stranger. Initially agreeing, James (after realizing what he is doing), decides to fight in order to protect his wife Mary (Lena Headey), Charlie, and his daughter Zoe (Adelaide Kane).
The first problem with this horror movie is that there is nothing scary…ever. Unless you get scared by blood and violence, then this very tame compared to other horror movies. The film also has an unbearable amount of plot holes and ridiculously dumb moments. For example, there are parts of the film where Zoe will run off somewhere in the house (while the purgers are in there) and James and Mary show little to no concern that their daughter is alone with murderers running around the house. There is also a scene where James gives Charlie a gun to defend himself. Aside from the already bad idea of giving someone who appears to be in middle school a gun, he never tells him how to use it. To put the cherry on top, James tells Charlie to hide in the basement
alone. What part of the sequence makes any logical sense?
This film also goes a little overboard with clichés. Killer who monologues before, during, and after every kill. Check. Coincidences that save the main characters. Check. People who have never used weapons before know exactly how to use them. Check.
The ending isn’t awful, but isn’t good either. It doesn’t really catch anybody who has been paying attention off-guard. The only good thing about this movie is Rhys Wakefield’s performance. He gives off the only good performance in the film, as his character is genuinely creepy and disturbing.
Aside from that, this movie is absolute garbage. To think something with such an interesting plot and a good lead actor in Ethan Hawke, only to replace it with bad writing, huge plot holes, and numbing violence. I guess I should’ve expected this from a movie produced by Michael Bay. Critics also disliked this film, with Rotten Tomatoes recording a 38% approval rating for the film. Normally this is where I tell you that if you like certain details about a movie, then you should see this one, but don’t even waste your time or
money on this one. This is easily the worst movie I’ve seen in a while. Hell, I’d even say it’s one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. If you still want to see this, all power to you, just be prepared for an hour and a half of pure garbage. To sum up my thoughts on the movie, here is a quote from the late Roger Ebert about the movie North (another absolute piece of garbage) that I feel works very wellabout how I feel about The Purge:
"I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it."