THE FIRST PURGE:
THE BLOOD-FUELED VIOLENCE AND MAYHEM RETURNS IN THIS SURPRISINGLY SOLID PREQUEL!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
By the fourth movie I think Lena Headey’s quote from the first film “Just remember all the good the Purge does” is completely unnecessary. We get it, the Purge ironically isn’t good, and it hurts our society, 2014’s The Purge: Anarchy and 2016’s The Purge: Election Year already showed how cruel and awful the event is.
Anyway, The First Purge, the fourth installment of the hugely-successful Purge franchise and a prequel depicting the events of the first Purge night. Coincidentally it’s also the first Purge movie review on this blog.
Though I didn’t review the previous installments I’ve seen all the Purge movies and for the most part I thought they were decent films with a fascinating premise. I consider Anarchy and Election Year to be stronger installments of the franchise than the first one, which was just a basic home invasion movie with nothing really special added except for the Purgers’ gang leader who was delightful, over-the-top, scenery-chewing, goodness.
The Purge wasn’t a terrible movie, it had an interesting concept, an America run by corrupt businessmen who allow one night a year for emergency services to be suspended and crime to be legal for twelve hours as a solution to overpopulation and aggression issues. Unfortunately, its focus was in the wrong place, watching a wealthy family survive the Purge in their home, Anarchy, Election Year, and this movie dig deeper into the premise and take viewers outside to witness what happens during the Purge, which is far more interesting than watching Ethan Hawke and his family in a home invasion film.
After three successful movies, James DeMonaco (The Kill Point, Crash (TV series), Staten Island), who directed the previous installments, returns as producer along with Jason Blum (Split, Get Out, Happy Death Day) and Michael Bay (The Rock, Transformers franchise, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi), and in the director’s chair we have Gerard McMurray (Burning Sands) with The First Purge. A prequel that shows how and why the Purge got started and the controversy surrounding the experiment.
Despite not being a huge enthusiast of the Purge movies, I was very interested in watching this one in particular. We finally get to see how America allowed such anarchy and carnage to be legal for one night a year, where the idea for the Purge came from, and the effects it has on society, and it’s a legitimately decent origin story.
It isn’t perfect but for a Purge movie I was more interested in the story this time around and there were plenty of unique ideas and twists that kept me invested. If you’ve seen any of the previous installments or the trailers you know what you’re getting into, a violent slaughterhouse of brutality and vandalism with sparks of political and social commentary.
In the mid-21st century, turmoil has caused the government to be overthrown by a new organization called the New Founding Fathers of America or NFFA. In hopes to push America’s crime rate below 1%, NFFA members, Arlo Sabian (Patch Darragh) and Dr. May Updale (Marisa Tomei-My Cousin Vinny, Crazy Stupid Love, Spider-Man: Homecoming) announce an experiment to take place on Staten Island where for 12 hours all emergency services will be suspended, and crime is legal.
Naturally the concept for this experiment causes a lot of controversy, protesters standing outside the NFFA headquarters demanding that people don’t Purge, people of color who had rough times either hoping to rise up against the white man during the Purge or fight the NFFA, and conflicts with already violent individuals including a crazed drug addict named Skeletor (Rotimi Paul) (Yes, like the He-Man villain) who’s out for carnage. But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the lower-class, this “Little” experiment will explode through the city borders and spread across the nation, thus creating “The Annual Purge”.
The film also stars Y’lan Noel (Insecure) as Dimitri, Lex Scott Davis (Tony Braxton: Unbreak My Heart, Training Day (TV series), Superfly) as Nya, Joivan Wade (Big School, Doctor Who, EastEnders) as Isaiah, Lauren Vélez (New York Undercover, Dexter, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) as Luisa, Chyna Layne (Precious, Five, Life of Crime) as Elsa (And no, she doesn’t have ice powers), hip-hop star, Siya as Blaise, Melonie Diaz (Lords of Dogtown, Assassination of a High School President, Fruitvale Station) as Juani, Mo McRae (Sons of Anarchy, The Butler, Wild) as 7 & 7, and Steve Harris (Minority Report, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Chi-Raq) as Freddy.
Overall, The First Purge is pretty much exactly like the other Purge movies but with a more interesting story behind it. I thought The Purge: Election Year was the best executed out of the franchise but in terms of plot I probably cared the most with this one.
Dating back to when The Purge came out in 2013 I asked myself where did this idea come from, how did it start, and why did America agree to allow the Purge to happen? Well, those questions have been answered and done with all the brutal, over-the-top mayhem, political themes, and social commentary the franchise is known for.
Surprisingly the movie doesn’t really tackle Donald Trump despite the film’s marketing poking fun at his political campaign. Perhaps that would have been too easy a target or controversial I don’t know, nevertheless it’s kind of misleading.
While I enjoyed the film’s story there are some major problems, for starters a lack of murder during the Purge, at first most of the criminals are doing things like vandalism, looting, and partying in the streets, not many people are killed which is a little understandable since it’s the first Purge night and they’re probably skeptical about it. Other issues I have include fake CGI blood (Seriously, go back to the red colored corn syrup practical effects) and in the beginning the Purge experiment is already being discussed, there’s no real introduction to it.
Despite those flaws, The First Purge is a decent attempt at showing the origins of the Purge and how it affects our society. It should satisfy fans of the franchise and people craving a taste for bloody and vicarious thrills, at least until the 10-part TV mini-series comes out.
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com
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