Starring: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge, Rhys Wakefield, Tony Oller, Arja Bareikis, Tom Yi
More info: IMDb
Tagline: Survive the night.
Plot: A family is held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is legalized.
My rating: 6.5/10
Will I watch it again? No.
Not bad. It's basically a home invasion flick but with an interesting sci-fi conceit of a weird, messed up futuristic (in the year 2022) society. Nearly the entire picture takes place in the Sandin family home. I was hoping for more exploration of The Purge itself but it's just there as a side thought. They do give you a few of the rules and reasons but if you spend too much time on it you'll be able to quickly see how something like that could never work. It's almost silly but then you're supposed to suspend your disbelief and just go with it which is exactly what I did. I liked the ending (I could have loved it if it weren't for one thing which I won't spoil) and the action was at times pretty good. Damn you, jump scares! The leader of the preppy gang was creepy in that FUNNY GAMES (1997/2007) way. It's satisfying but not so much that I need to ever revisit it. Oh, and not to spoil anything, but the expected showdown that doesn't happen was pleasantly surprising and welcome.
Posts
Could have been as smart as its idea, but instead, decided to use every convention and obvious route that every home-invasion before it has used. Nice review.
ReplyDelete