The Purge (2013)

You know, you're never wrong when it comes to the economy. Well, you could run it into the ground like Gordon Brown's Labour Party did, but for the most part if you can back it up, you are never wrong. You could have someone say option A is the best method, and someone else can say option B is the best method, and they'd both be right. Do you want to know how America solved its economic problem?

Well America decided that for a 12 hour period, called the Purge, all crime is legal. There will be no ambulances to treat the injured, no police to arrest criminals, no firemen to put out fires. In the year 2022 we follow the Sandin family; father James (Ethan Hawke), mother Mary (Lena Headey), son Charlie (Max Burkholder), and daughter Zoey (Adelaide Kane). However when Charlie lets in a man screaming for help (Edwin Hodge), a Purge group, led by the Polite Stranger (Rhys Wakefield) lay siege to the house.

I'll start off with the obvious, THE CONCEPT IS STUPID. Really? America, the land of the free, home of the brave, pushed this through the senate? It's like 'The Hunger Games' or 'Battle Royale', but without the charm or Jennifer Lawrence. I can kind of see why, to let people vent their frustrations without fear of consequences. But THAT'S STUPID. I'm sorry, but I really can't see every single criminal in America agreeing to this, to hold off their illegal activities for one twelve hour period. Then again the film does say crime "is low" so it's not wiped out completely. Actually, one person does basically say that a poor economy, high crime rate, war, et cetera, is because humanity is essentially a self-destructive force. Not entirely sure how America doing an annual purge stops war, but, whatever.

But how the Hell does this fix the economy? "1% unemployed", how does that work? People in the film keep saying how the Purge saved America, but they don't say how. I can only assume that so many people are killed off that jobs are easily filled up again. Then again a news report does have someone claiming that it's simply the governments way of killing off the poor. Now, I thought that that would've been the main theme of the film, and it does touch that subject a few times, but it's pretty much nonexistent since the Sandin's are a rich family and the attackers are also visibly rich.

Apart from that, the story is just a rehash of what we've seen before. A home invasion, obvious scares, a peaceful man doing violent things to keep his family safe. Although I did start to enjoy this more once I started thinking of this more as an action horror rather than a normal horror, even though the action doesn't really happen until the third act. For the most part the film is about the scares, and for a 15 rated film it really isn't scary. Hell, one scare I saw coming, the film just decided to wait and wait and wait before finally pulling it off.

And yes, you did read that right, I did start to enjoy this film. I did. I actually start to get into it, it even did some stuff that I didn't think the film would risk doing. Before doing something to annoy me again. And believe me there was a lot of that in this film, in particular Charlie since he was the one who let a complete stranger into the house, on a night when everyone can do whatever they want. Especially seeing as how the Purge appears to have been going on for a long time now, Charlie should know the risks. And Charlie's a smart kid, he can build portable cameras, he shouldn't be this naive. There are so many other stupid things to comment on, but I'll leave those for the spoiler section.

The characters themselves, are admittedly likable. Well, the characters you're supposed to like are likable anyway, with the exception of the Polite Stranger. Like Alien in 'Spring Breakers' the Polite Stranger has a certain charm to him. In fact he's the one who tends to portray the 'rich vs poor' message. He portrays a God complex, seeing anyone below his status as inferior. And yet it's kind of hard not to like the guy. Personally anyway. I think it's because I loved the way Rhys Wakefield plays the character, I feel he could play a young version of DC Comic's The Joker. Granted the only really stupid thing he does is cutting the power, making it harder for the Sandin's to find...whoever they're looking for.

James I'll talk about in the spoiler section, but overall he is likable. He's a good guy who tries to keep the family together. The man (Edwin Hodge), whose...name we never learn, to be honest, I wanted to learn more about him. He was actually one of the more fleshed out characters despite the fact that we never actually learn who he is. Well, not directly anyway, apart from the Polite Stranger saying he's homeless. We do see him wearing dog tags, so he's likely a former soldier and, given that the Polite Stranger says he's homeless (We don't know for sure, but then again the Polite Stranger has no reason to lie), this could be a very subtle message about how soldiers put their lives on the line, but can end up feeling betrayed by their own country.

Actually, just thought of something else for the spoiler section. Boy that's going to be a long one. Anyway, Mary portrays the kind of woman you'd expect to find in such a wealthy area, but even she has to evolve to protect her family. Charlie I've already mentioned how he's supposed to be smart but he constantly does things that put his family in danger, mainly by protecting Hodge's character. Zoey is your typical teenager, she strops for no reason, is "in love" with her boyfriend Henry (Tony Oller), and subsequently breaks down when the Purge arrives at her doorstep. Thinking about it, her character doesn't really develop that much, though I would like to know why she appeared to still be wearing her school uniform throughout the night. As for her boyfriend Henry, honestly I can see why James doesn't like him.

The acting, overall I suppose is actually quite good. I wouldn't say anyone gave a bad performance, there's no doubt about that. The main complaint would be that some dialogue can feel forced, but that's more the scripts fault because those lines don't really contribute to the film or make sense.

So is it a good film? No. Is it a bad film? No. It's an alright film. The plot, while stupid, is intriguing but not fully explored. The acting is good, a pretty memorable villain, and it has some good moments, especially when the action kicks in. But, like I said, it doesn't fully explore the possibilities, the characters do some of the stupidest things imaginable, and the film itself is predictable at times. I do have to say though that this is probably my guilty pleasure of the year. It's not great, but it isn't really a disaster.










Spoiler Section

Right, let's get down to James. His moral compass does a complete 180. Initially he wants to give the Polite Stranger their target, duct taping him to a chair, but is quite easily persuade not to. This is despite the fact that his family will also be put in the firing line; the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. But then again, that's the kind of message this film wants to portray; would you sacrifice one man to save your family? Could you live with your decision?

But James is also very stupid. He not only doesn't free Hodge's character so he can help, he sells the lockdown systems which law-abiding citizens, which make up 1% of the country apparently, which is essentially metal plating covers the doors and windows. This is suppose to be the most advanced security system, the best the country has to offer, and yet the Polite Stranger's group bring them down at the first hurdle. How? By strapping chains to the metal and pulling them off with their cars. Now, James says that his system works 99% of the time, but they weren't designed for the events which happen in the film. Now, if I was to design a lockdown system, one of the first things I'd design is a feature to prevent exactly what happened in the film. But then again, this is also another subtle message, that corporations are selling peace of mind, rather than actual protection, they're taking advantage of people's fears, making James a very rich man.

Which actually comes up as a plot point. When the Polite Stranger and his gang get into the house, we see the neighbours coming over and killing them, helping the Sandin's. It then turns out that they were jealous of how rich the Sandin's got by selling everyone lockdown systems (War profiteering message? So many subtle hints), and now plan to kill the Sandin's themselves, before Hodge's character saves them.

But they're not the only turncoats in this film. Henry wants to talk to James because James doesn't like Henry seeing his daughter, because he's older than her. I don't know how old exactly, we don't get either of their ages. I'm guessing Zoey is 16, Henry maybe in his twenties. Of course you can't really tell what the problem is since Adelaide Kane and Tony Oller (According to IMDB) were born within seven months of each other and therefore look the same age. In fact, Kane is the OLDER one of the two. But anyway, Henry's solution to her father forbidding her from seeing him? SHOOTING HIM of course! I'm sure that will NEVER come up again with your girlfriend.

It's funny actually, the people's names we do get are the liars and backstabbers, and yet the characters who names we don't get, I.E. the Polite Stranger, his followers, and Hodge's character, are the HONEST ones. Maybe that's yet another message, that evil can wear any mask, don't judge a book by its cover, etc etc.

And every single death is the God damn same! Well, okay I lie, nine out of ten deaths are the same in this film. Basically, the second a main character is about to die, another character pops up from nowhere and saves them. Once or twice, this is okay, but by the ninth or tenth time, it's getting tiresome. Oh yeah, there are other deaths involving bladed weapons, but for the most part you wondering where the savior will pop up from.

You'd think that with so much predictable and stupid moments I wouldn't like this film. Alas.