I've had the Purge downloaded for ages - but for the longest time I held off watching it. I'm a huge Lena Headey fan so found out about this movie through her. She is perfect in Game of Thrones. Cersei is my favourite character. But I've seen her in Dredd 2012 and it was a little odd, especially when she falls from the roof. I was worried she wouldn't be as great an actress as I am used to seeing in Game of Thrones.
James DeMonaco, perhaps best known for The Negotiator (1998) and Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), has released his latest cinematic offering in the form of The Purge, starring Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise) and Lena Headey (300, Game of Thrones).
Watch the purge official trailer here.
Set in a closer-than-comfortable 2022 A.D. America, The Purge portrays a dystopian society in which crime is at an all-time low, unemployment is at only 1%, and everything’s essentially fine and dandy for the majority of Americans. So how has this peace-loving society come about? Once a year, between the hours of 7pm and 7am, all crime is legal.
The narrative explains to us that the government see this as a chance for ordinary, law-abiding citizens to relieve themselves of any tensions, usually in the form of rape and murder, leaving the rest of the year to be peaceful and crime-free.
James (Ethan Hawke) has profited pretty tidily from this set up by selling security equipment to those who can afford to protect themselves from this night of terror. His surrounding neighbours are all protected due to this technology, while James and his family are able to hide away in their family mansion throughout the night.
However, things take a turn for the worse when their teenage son allows entry to a blood-covered, screaming man running past the house. Soon after, the stranger’s pursuers arrive at the house and demand the family give up the man, or face a night of terror.
The film has a lot of potential to be both genuinely scary as well as genuinely innovative. Everyone can relate to the sense of terror that being stalked around your own house must bring; this is only enhanced by the terrific performances by those players the stalkers.
Perhaps most interestingly, the film highlights the very real and stark difference between the one per cent (our on-screen family), and those who live in poverty. The poor are unable to protect themselves during the purge, and so a huge amount of these people are killed during the night.
This is, no doubt, a critique of our times, which may be a common trope of dystopian fiction, but done originally and well within this film. Unfortunately, in order to boost the horror stakes, we spend more time within the family home rather than outside on the streets, witnessing the slaughter of the poor first hand.
It would have brought forward DeMonaco’s message far more clearly had this occurred, though this only reduces the societal message somewhat – if you’re looking for a horror film with a critical bite, you’re still going to be satisfied.
It’s not a perfect movie by any stretch, but it is certainly interesting, as well as properly scary.
Featured images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
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